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Decided to get back into GTAV because The Pagan mission in Thief is getting on my nerves and also I just wanted to run around in a representation of America that's less ludicrous than the real one.



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Arts

Farts

Twarts

I am playing baldurs gate at the moment.Trying to get better gear.Just killed an ankheg and murdered a few winter wolves for xp and cash.

The ankhegs give good xp and so do winter wolves.

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We are stardust.Our bodies are made from the guts of exploding stars.

Neil Degrasse Tyson.

I've gotten to the North Mountain in Lufia 2. I.e. that part where you're going after the ship-builder guy.

Meanwhile, I did something else:

I just completed Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, with 100% map, 100% bestiary, and 100% of all item drops (including all DSS cards). I also uncovered all the DSS combo functions (they're not explained until an action you take makes use of them). That last one is nigh-impossible to do in a reasonable amount of time unless you're playing Thief mode -- which is what I was. Let me explain this.

CotM has a bunch of extra modes that alter your stats or gameplay features otherwise. You're still playing the same basic game, but the gameplay becomes different because you have access to all the magical card combos from the beginning, or because your physical stats are through the roof, or because your subweapons deal craptons more damage, or because you have insane amounts of luck which let you get tons of items.

I first played about a decade ago I think, and which I beat mostly with the whip and subweapons, largely ignoring the magical card system (called "DSS"). I'd always felt the game was a little on the unpolished side and was kinda frustrating -- after all, I'd started my Castlevania experience with the much smoother Harmony of Dissonance, CotM's successor on the GBA. I also first beat CotM with savestates, because the gameplay was just too frustrating just with whip and subweapons. I could try the card system but I was missing a ton of cards, and besides, my ability to get items was quite limited because the entire inventory system ran on random drops -- no shop to buy or sell items from. More recent games have item shops, as well bestiaries that remember whether you've revealed the item drops of a given enemy.

So my first playthrough was basically a combination of "Fighter" and "Shooter". I also knew that "Magician" was sorta boring because I didn't really like the DSS system (or so I thought). You're normally supposed to beat them one after the other, and "Thief" mode is last...but I was only really interested in Thief mode because I thought that would actually be fun, a "living off the land" scenario.

So I downloaded a save file that had all of the modes unlocked. If you want to do so too, it's here. It shows the Japanese version of the game but it also works with the English version, which I just finished. Many thanks to Blinge for connecting me with this!

"Thief" mode has poor stats in general except an insanely high luck stat, so you'd basically be getting items dropping left and right. I discovered I could actually aim for another goal at this point -- I could uncover the two item drops assigned to each enemy in the game. Sure, the game doesn't track them, but...hey, I can.

It was difficult, at least at first -- and even later into the game. But it was quite rewarding. I did a few things on this journey:
0. I didn't use savestates to get through tough spots this time. This includes going through the Battle Arena (though I did have almost insane amounts of recovery items, and I did use the MP refill bug feature to get through it the first time -- though not the second).
1. I started to get a bunch more cards than I used to have before. This meant that I actually was able to make use of a lot more of the DSS card combos than in my first playthrough. The DSS system was surprisingly interesting and fun now that I really got to play with it. It gave the gameplay a lot more variety and made a number of bits I used to think were unreasonable, rather reasonable.
2. I went through the Underground Waterway early. I didn't do this in my first playthrough, because it seemed too frustrating. But for some reason I decided that it was a good dare to pick up, and I figured that this would allow me to go through two other areas more smoothly. It was quite challenging but it was also rather interesting. Going through it very carefully reminded me of something other people have said about the gameplay of Dark Souls (which I haven't yet played).
3. I got to see a lot more detail in the game. For example, having to dodge the Ice Demon's attacks a bunch of times just to get its item drops -- while being surrounded by poisoned water, which would easily kill me if I got frozen -- I both learned to use the ice-absorbing DSS combo and got an understanding of the attack pattern which allowed me to dodge it much more reliably than I ever could before. And thanks to playing with a weaker character, I got a chance to see a greater variety of enemy attacks -- such as from the Iron Golem boss, which went from an easy boss not worthy of special mention to a surprisingly challenging one. Similarly, in trying to deal with various situations, I ended up discovering the DSS system. And finally, I got a good second look at a lot of the background art and other aesthetic features of the game -- and I was honestly rather charmed by the the amount of detail they put into establishing the atmosphere of this game -- something I really hadn't considered very well the first time I played it.

In a way, i kinda think this was the "right" experience to come out of the game -- difficult, but rewarding, and with such a high luck stat, it actually meant I could get rare drops within a reasonable amount of time. (I'm glaring at you, Mimic Candle!) This in turn meant I was actually able to appreciate the beauty of various design features such as the progression of items available to the player, as well as actually get to use those super-rare items that one would normally not find in a typical run of the game. But at the same time they didn't just come easily -- I had to juggle my equipment between luck-boosting, strength-boosting (to maximize damage), and a balance, in order to get through the castle effectively. (Even abused mercy invincibility to avoid damage from the polluted water!) This in turn meant that I was always paying attention to the equipment I was using, which in turn meant that all those item drops actually meant something beyond just boxes on a checklist. And of course I ended up finding grinding spots for recovery items, like the pit of mushrooms that give Potions and Mind Highs.

In case anyone's wondering, I got the Black Dog card my first pass through the Arena, but the Unicorn card took the third pass. That was the last card that completed my collection.

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 18th November 2016 17:42

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current games (2024-02-19):
Fairy Fencer F ADF
Pokémon Perfect Crystal

finished so far this year:
Gato Roboto
drowning, drowning
New Super Mario Bros.
TMNT 3: Radical Rescue

tabled: Lost Ruins

I just picked up Pokemon Moon.

Geat UI, Graphics, Sound. What to expect from a Pokemon game.

But this one feels a little... directionless. They changed it up a little, which the series needed desperately, and while I'm only several hours in at this point, I'm hoping it starts to suck me in a little better.

I mean, in the old games at least I really wanted to go right at the first Gym and whoop that idiot's ass. Here, I'm just kind of running around and enjoying the game. Maybe it's the Hawaiian vibe to the game, of which the region in Sun/Moon: 'Alola', is based off of.

Kiiiiiiiind of disappointed that Pokemon Bank isn't compatible until January. I spent the last year trying to either breed or catch a Shiny Dunsparce to import into this game as soon as I got it. As well as several others but essentially, I wanted to make a pink Dunsparce my 'Starter' for the game and release the starter I chose as a trade-off or ethical exchange.

I play the game with a loose set of rules, in general. Any Pokemon die-hard should know about Nuzlock, and while I absolutely blow at it six ways from Sunday, I still have made my own set of In-Game Rules that I follow rather strictly.

Such as:

No HM Whores (I really hate the term HM Slave)

No Psychic-Type in my party unless it is a secondary Psychic-type (such as the Alolan Raichu, which is Electric/Psychic).

Always have a Water-Type

Always have a Normal-Type

Raise all Party Pokemon at equal Levels and rotate first by Level, then HP.

No Man-Made item use on Pokemon with the exception of Pokemon League, due to the stipulations

And various other small things here and there

I am trying to play this one a little different, and I pretty much expect to start over at some point anyway, since I do it with almost every game I play (it's seriously weird but EVERY game I play, I do this with) after a few months.

But I'm trying to catch every wild Pokemon in an area and actually fill out my Pokedex as I play, something i NEVER DO. For all the reasons people play the games, mine has NEVER been about completing the Pokedex and I never have, even in the original games.

But I still just want to play the game with my Dunsparce.





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Dynamic Threads (Youtube)

A conversation with Blinge Odonata made me end up attempting to speedrun Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance. With 1 hour and 19 minutes on the in-game clock I'm a little past the big halfway point. I also have two Dracula relics so far -- the Eye, which I got out-of-order, and the Fang, which is the first one I should have been able to get.

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 23rd November 2016 07:21

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current games (2024-02-19):
Fairy Fencer F ADF
Pokémon Perfect Crystal

finished so far this year:
Gato Roboto
drowning, drowning
New Super Mario Bros.
TMNT 3: Radical Rescue

tabled: Lost Ruins

I put Terraria on the back burners so I still have something to play on my vita when I'm stuck someplace and bored.
Still grinding out all the moves of Xenoverse (the drop rates suck on a lot of these)
We recently played Turok (2008) all the way through for our channel. I used to wonder why this series got rebooted just to be forgotten about completely. Now I know why. Damn was TouchStone dumb with this game. I quickly became clear that TouchStone used Turok to try and get a piece of Halo's Multiplayer pie and that is it. The game showed little to no passion towards the Turok series's character or the story. The story felt way unpolished and is constantly telling me about multiplayer during loading screens.What a sad way for a series to die...
We also recently played Transistor all the way through for our channel.
About to start up the HD remaster of The Last of Us so Lena and Raiya (2 of our costars on my channel) can see the story.




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He's Back. He is The_TrueBOSS.
Check me and my partners out at: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheTrueBOSSofJupiter

Quote (Magitek_slayer @ 14th November 2016 12:53)

I am playing baldurs gate at the moment.

My man! That's one of first games (along with Diablo and HoMM3) that really turned me on toward computer gaming. Great game, that one .

I'm currently playing Obsidian's newest development, Tyranny, in which you play as an agent of an all-powerful tyrant who has already conquered the known world. Pretty cool so far.

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Console RPG Cliches

Continuing my backlog quest, I've been playing the 2013 Tomb Raider a lot recently. I never really got into the original games; I remember trying a demo of the very first one and I didn't enjoy it at all, so I never went back - in fact, I probably wouldn't have even tried this new one if not for the fact that I got it for next to nothing and had heard decent things about it.

This version, though, this version is a lot of fun. The style of gameplay really benefits from having more-or-less current-gen features available to it, and the plot is a fun and interesting kind of ridiculousness. If there's one knock to it, it's the fact that it has a lot of times in which you're essentially watching Lara Croft Torture Porn. She takes a lot of abuse, physical and mental, and it's more impactful than I expected (especially when you screw up a set piece three or four times in a row and have to watch her get her skull impaled over and over).

That said, though, I've had a blast with it so far and I'm only at 52% completion. I liked it enough that it helped pushed me over the edge on buying my PS4 because the bundle I got has the sequel packed in.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Quote (Rangers51 @ 1st December 2016 14:07)

Continuing my backlog quest, I've been playing the 2013 Tomb Raider a lot recently. I never really got into the original games; I remember trying a demo of the very first one and I didn't enjoy it at all, so I never went back - in fact, I probably wouldn't have even tried this new one if not for the fact that I got it for next to nothing and had heard decent things about it.

This version, though, this version is a lot of fun. The style of gameplay really benefits from having more-or-less current-gen features available to it, and the plot is a fun and interesting kind of ridiculousness. If there's one knock to it, it's the fact that it has a lot of times in which you're essentially watching Lara Croft Torture Porn. She takes a lot of abuse, physical and mental, and it's more impactful than I expected (especially when you screw up a set piece three or four times in a row and have to watch her get her skull impaled over and over).

That said, though, I've had a blast with it so far and I'm only at 52% completion. I liked it enough that it helped pushed me over the edge on buying my PS4 because the bundle I got has the sequel packed in.

My brother goes on and on about that game. He makes it sound as if it's the best game ever made sometimes. I've wanted to give it a go but my own personal backlog has been keeping me from it.



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He's Back. He is The_TrueBOSS.
Check me and my partners out at: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheTrueBOSSofJupiter

Lately I've been doing Rise of the Tomb Raider and Dishonored 2, both easily worthy of second playthroughs. (D2's NG+ patch can't get here quickly enough.) Also screwing around with PS4 Skyrim and DA:Inquisition, mostly because the last-gen versions left some bad tastes in my mouth.

Quote

This version, though, this version is a lot of fun. The style of gameplay really benefits from having more-or-less current-gen features available to it, and the plot is a fun and interesting kind of ridiculousness. If there's one knock to it, it's the fact that it has a lot of times in which you're essentially watching Lara Croft Torture Porn. She takes a lot of abuse, physical and mental, and it's more impactful than I expected (especially when you screw up a set piece three or four times in a row and have to watch her get her skull impaled over and over).

Yeah, the amount of weird and grisly ways for her to die in the reboot were so numerous, it reminded me of the Fear Effect series. ROTTR toned most of that down, thankfully. You can only watch so many river impalements before they lose all appeal.

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It's gonna be a glorious day
I feel my luck can change

Two more speedruns of Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance -- and some routing changes -- later, I can now get the best ending in Harmony of Dissonance in 1:40:37.

Also restarted Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled and Mega Man Zero 2.

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current games (2024-02-19):
Fairy Fencer F ADF
Pokémon Perfect Crystal

finished so far this year:
Gato Roboto
drowning, drowning
New Super Mario Bros.
TMNT 3: Radical Rescue

tabled: Lost Ruins

Quote (Rangers51 @ 1st December 2016 15:07)

Continuing my backlog quest, I've been playing the 2013 Tomb Raider a lot recently. I never really got into the original games; I remember trying a demo of the very first one and I didn't enjoy it at all, so I never went back - in fact, I probably wouldn't have even tried this new one if not for the fact that I got it for next to nothing and had heard decent things about it.

This version, though, this version is a lot of fun. The style of gameplay really benefits from having more-or-less current-gen features available to it, and the plot is a fun and interesting kind of ridiculousness. If there's one knock to it, it's the fact that it has a lot of times in which you're essentially watching Lara Croft Torture Porn. She takes a lot of abuse, physical and mental, and it's more impactful than I expected (especially when you screw up a set piece three or four times in a row and have to watch her get her skull impaled over and over).

That said, though, I've had a blast with it so far and I'm only at 52% completion. I liked it enough that it helped pushed me over the edge on buying my PS4 because the bundle I got has the sequel packed in.

I am a huge fan of the first two Tomb Raider games. I consider them to be two of the greatest games ever made, especially in the platform genre. The controls are a little clunky at times and the camera isn't always the best, but those are problems in almost any Platform game (even the G.O.A.T.S., Crash Bandicoot 2 and Super Mario 64).

The female lead, for one (while not the first time a videogame centered around one; See: Metroid), was ground-breaking for the time and that's sometimes forgotten today. In part because of how stale the games became, with quick, sloppy sequels churned out once a year that improved on the controls, but lost the magic and atmosphere of the original and it's first sequel. Especially since she stopped raiding Tombs for a while.

None of the sequels or reboots before Tomb Raider (2013) were interesting or good with the lone exception of Tomb Raider: Anniversary, which was a fantastic remake of the original game in every single way. Maybe, just maybe, the only thing I didn't like about it was the boss battles. They break the flow of the game, seeming more like an arena battle than what could be called the "boss battles" of the orignial Tomb Raider. But they are tense and challenging, so it's a very minor gripe. I suppose I would have liked a little more flow to the game, and Tomb Raider '13 is a perfect example of what comes to mind.

If you liked the 2013 Tomb Raider, I highly recommend to you the remake of the original, Tomb Raider: Anniversary. It will provide you with the experience of the original game, but gameplay that isn't archaic as well as some added story elements that do the original game justice without shitting all over it's legacy. Simple put, It's one of the best remakes of anything, ever.

My experience with the 2013 reboot is odd. I first played it while doing seasonal warehouse work in New Jersey about a year after it had been out. I knew the reviews were good, but I had fallen for that before. One of my room mates in the hotel had his Xbox 360 and a bunch of games. I got the chance to check it out one night, so I figured hey why not, the biggest thing holding me back was paying for something I might hate.

That said, it pulled me right in. The graphics, controls, story, etc... I was pretty excited after the first few minutes of gameplay. I played up until about eh... 20%? Maybe a little more? and it was only getting better. I never got a chance to play it again, though and I was a little bummed out.

So I bought it a few months ago on my PS3, and I have to be honest, it just didn't do it for me this time around. It was more like God of Wara Croft. The story is fine for this type of game, so maybe it was the origin story that's been played out (and even done to a degree in Tomb Raider The Last Revelation, the 4th game in the series).

And you make an important point about the Lara Croft torture porn, which I myself find to be slightly alarming. I'm over 30 now and my mindset is still changing, but now that I'm (hopefully!) becoming more refined as a person, I think it's a critical flaw of the game on a few levels.

First is the obvious pornographic nature of the game. Not like hardcore sex porn, but the gore-porn, and aforementioned torture-porn that happens constantly throughout the game. It's absurd and over the top on a whole new level. Granted, I haven't finished the game, but I've watched some videos of the later portions, seen trailers beforehand and was several hours into the game.

Like you said, watching Lara Croft get her face obliterated by a wolf is pretty intense, especially several times in a row and at some point, it becomes completely unnecessary (not to mention stopping just short of getting to see her corpse get raped not even 30 minutes into the game). Maybe 5 or 6 spots in the game like this would have worked, but it's almost as if the developers intended to de-sensitize you. Which is another problem in and of itself.

And on top of that, the emotional torture she endures. They really wanted to establish a traumatic origin for the character. But this went beyond breaking her and developing her character. In turn, they actually hurt the character more than the horrid sequels and films did.

They created a caricature out of Lara Croft, unfortunately. The old games were silly (dinosaurs? aliens? HARAMBEES?) and fun, but the 2013 version of the game is essentially a cartoon at some point.

This is not a feminist game, nor does it have a "strong female lead". It does not empower her as a woman because she's getting metaphorically, emotionally and in some ways, physically raped the entire game. Her breasts are everywhere as soon as the game begins and it's one thing to design a good-looking, curvy young woman but another thing to objectify her in the process. Yeah, her boobs were always big, and even possibly a weapon of mass destruction in the first game, and she dressed in little booty shorts and a tank-top. But this aesthetic changes with photo-realistic graphics. It's no longer up to your imagination if you choose to sexualize her, because she pretty much is sexualized right from the beginning. She's 18, she's hot and has an sexy accent, she's alone, she's scared, she's shipwrecked and under-dressed. This reads like the start of a rape-fantasy porno.

And I don't find any of this assessment to be subjective, either. Maybe stretched in places but not really. The game is completely over the top. And it manages to do all the things necessary to make great camp, yet doesn't even manage to be that, since the tone of the game is serious to a fault. Note, that it doesn't take itself too seriously, because that would have in turn, made the game kitsch (the new Fallout games made by Bethesda are a perfect example of this). And it isn't like Metal Gear Solid in that it doesn't take itself too seriously and is over the top and almost perfect camp.

Tomb Raider (2013) to me, is a mindless, sometimes fun to play and completely unoriginal videogame that wasn't thought out or slaved over, instead coming across as a pet project for an oblivious company (*cough*SquareEnix owns Crystal Dynamics*cough*). Compare this to something like The Last of Us, which is arguably the best game of the past 10 years and already one of the greatest games ever made; It's engaging, well-written, perfectly paced, wonderfully acted and incredibly refined from top to bottom. Tomb Raider (2013) is again, terribly unoriginal drivel that essentially copied all of the best features from the best games across and in the genre and combined them into one game, expecting it to be good because of it. Take a game like Borderlands, for example, which did almost the exact same thing I'm criticizing Tomb Raider for yet managed to be charming and fun, even if the ending was one of the worst endings ever. What it did though, was it created an engaging world and in-game universe while adding a few unique elements to the gameplay to make it's own distinct system. Even the point and click Telltale games are great additions to the Borderlands universe. The same cannot be said for the Tomb Raider spin-offs.

TL;DR: The game is fucking trash and I'm dumbfounded that it got so many raving reviews. Then again, maybe not, since the industry is run by exactly the type of people who would eat this kind of game up. It can be mindless fun, but by no means is it a good game.

This post has been edited by Dynamic Threads on 15th December 2016 23:58

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Dynamic Threads (Youtube)

Mega Man Zero 2: I've beaten the train and Antarctica levels. Working on the jungle level. For some reason, a couple friends successfully egged me onto actually playing this without mid-level savestates, so I'm feeling a lot more of the full brunt of the game's difficulty.

Not really enjoying it that much, but it's okay I guess. And it satisfies my occasional craving for platforming action.

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow: I wrote up an enemy-grinding guide on GameFAQs a while ago, but I didn't know how the Imp soul worked at the time. So I wanted to update that guide.

Doing so also meant that I should try to make full use of my own guide to grind for souls. So I was like, I should try to avoid defeating any enemies when I play.

Very quickly this turned into a pacifist game, where I defeat nothing but required bosses, which also means it's a low-level game. At least until the point where I have to get certain souls to access the best ending. And just because healing items will sorta make the challenge moot, I'm doing a Ys-like conduct where no healing items are allowed in boss fights. This also means no healing in the route from the save room to the boss.

This has been rather interesting. Bosses that were piss-easy before now give me a much harder time. I've also learned that DoS's jump-kick mechanics are more finicky than Harmony of Dissonances's, where I could jump-kick enemies all over the place with ease. Also, Medusa Heads are now far more of a problem, because I'm not allowed to kill them! Right now my progress is being blocked by the lamely-named Bat Company...yes, it's embarrassing.

Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled: I've just gotten kicked out of Cythere. And for the first time in the game, I have a party of four characters (Kairu, Aurora, Nephi, and Isa).

I'm playing this game in shorter spurts, more spaced out, because the rate of random battles is pretty exhausting -- which is honestly the only problem with this otherwise excellent game.

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 16th December 2016 02:24

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current games (2024-02-19):
Fairy Fencer F ADF
Pokémon Perfect Crystal

finished so far this year:
Gato Roboto
drowning, drowning
New Super Mario Bros.
TMNT 3: Radical Rescue

tabled: Lost Ruins

I'm almost exclusivly playing Final Fantasy XV right now. Just can't put this down. Currently am on either chapter 5 or 6. I'd check but I won't allow myself to play it on work nights or I won't go to sleep. Which makes for a long 12 hour shift.
What little time I have used to play something else is playing Punch-Out!! for the Wii with 20lb weights on both my wrists. I'm at the end of the game where you randomly fight title defense boxers and 3 loses makes you retire. I found that turning off the wii quickly when you lose doesn't count the loss towards you which is good for this workout. I just use that to fight random opponents until I win 10. My workout plan only has me doing this once every 5 or 6 sessions but the wrist weights start wearing you out around the 5th fight. I love it.

This post has been edited by TrueBOSS on 18th December 2016 06:18

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He's Back. He is The_TrueBOSS.
Check me and my partners out at: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheTrueBOSSofJupiter

The Last Guardian and Bloodborne. They are almost diametrical experiences. In every way, Bloodborne - like the majority of the Souls series - is a pure 'game'. From its technical polish, fluid controls and an almost rebellious willingness to completely ignore a set narrative for ambiguous lore, it feels like a celebration of pure gaming mechanics.

Everything TLA is not.

TLA has a objectively terrible camera and controls. It gives obnoxious prompts for every action that can be taken, every time that action can be taken for presumably the entirety of the game and there is no option to remove it. Your character controls are horrible, janky, and somehow both unresponsive and way too sensitive. Trying to control your AI companion is an exercise in frustration where you can spend minutes doing jack all as you wait for the creature to do the thing it needs to do in order for you to proceed. It is easily the more engaging of the two games.

If you try to play TLA like it's a puzzle platformer featuring co-op with an AI companion...yer gonna have a bad time.

YMMV, and maybe it was because I'd got some foundation by playing its predecessors Ico and Colossus, but I immediately grocked to the game's vibe and just rolled with it as an legit situation rather than a series of puzzle-like objectives. Sure, the game's structured that way, very similarly in the vein of Ico, but Trico - the gryphon creature's name - as a creation is so strikingly and ridiculously fully realized that it never broke the illusion for me. I was able to and did treat every situation like it was a real thing that was happening and without the meta to get in the way, intuiting what needed to be done next and interacting with Trico was a completely natural process. But if you don't do that, if you don't put your guard down and buy into what the game's selling and instead just try to 'beat the puzzles'. all you'll see is the technical deficiencies and endless frustration.

This post has been edited by Narratorway on 22nd December 2016 03:08

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Arts

Farts

Twarts

In Lufia 2 I've gotten as far as the Ancient Cave and am going down it for the first time, with Dekar in my party.

In Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, my low level game has revealed the bad and the worst endings and is now en route to the good ending...and currently facing Death, at level 25. So we're almost there. Fun fact: I twice defeated Aguni only to mess up drawing the magic seal and then lose the battle. Heh.

I also just finished Evoland. Well, 95.6% finished at least. It's a short-ish parody JRPG/action RPG. References a bunch of games. Apparently started out as a Ludum Dare entry, which won first prize.

Suggestion if/when you play it: don't worry too much about collectables, then consult a guide at the end, after you get fast travel. But otherwise, I suggest playing it blind for the full experience. Pretty good game overall I guess.

Bonus thought: I think the last boss may have been inspired by some Ys bosses, especially Galbalan and Gelaldy.

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 30th December 2016 08:12

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current games (2024-02-19):
Fairy Fencer F ADF
Pokémon Perfect Crystal

finished so far this year:
Gato Roboto
drowning, drowning
New Super Mario Bros.
TMNT 3: Radical Rescue

tabled: Lost Ruins

I'd started Rise of the Tomb Raider after finishing its predecessor, but I've ended up putting it down, having been sucked into the vortex that is FIFA 17. The RPG mode they put into this year's edition is surprisingly good, if not a little predictable in terms of the basic story, and it's the first FIFA I've had in many years that made me catch myself saying "OK, I guess one more game before bed..."

Of course, it won't mean anything to anyone who isn't already a soccer fan or has an interest in understanding a bit more about how top-level soccer leagues work, but for those people it's a neat layer of gameplay over the top of the basic features already integrated in the game.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Quote (Rangers51 @ 30th December 2016 14:52)

I'd started Rise of the Tomb Raider after finishing its predecessor, but I've ended up putting it down, having been sucked into the vortex that is FIFA 17. The RPG mode they put into this year's edition is surprisingly good, if not a little predictable in terms of the basic story, and it's the first FIFA I've had in many years that made me catch myself saying "OK, I guess one more game before bed..."

Of course, it won't mean anything to anyone who isn't already a soccer fan or has an interest in understanding a bit more about how top-level soccer leagues work, but for those people it's a neat layer of gameplay over the top of the basic features already integrated in the game.

so is tomb raider disappointing then?

Oh yeah i'm playing dark souls obviously.Just killed the stray demon

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We are stardust.Our bodies are made from the guts of exploding stars.

Neil Degrasse Tyson.

Quote (Magitek_slayer @ 30th December 2016 16:34)

so is tomb raider disappointing then?

I don't know, I was just excited to start FIFA. I likely won't come back to RotTR until after I get my fill of FIFA and XV, but I wouldn't say it was disappointing.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

I'm now at the final boss of CvDos, Menace, at level 29.

Abaddon, the previous boss, was extremely pattern-based, but extremely difficult until I realized that the locust patterns he summons are highly dependent on the direction he faces.

Now I'm on Menace and it seems likely to be a boring and long fight. Oh well. I'll do it later.

I've also discovered that there is an inventory limit to Lufia 2. Apparently it's 6 x 16 = 96 different items. I actually LOST a blue chest item due to not knowing how to handle the inventory limit screen. Ugh.

--------------------

current games (2024-02-19):
Fairy Fencer F ADF
Pokémon Perfect Crystal

finished so far this year:
Gato Roboto
drowning, drowning
New Super Mario Bros.
TMNT 3: Radical Rescue

tabled: Lost Ruins

I've been binging on Skyrim again. I think I nearly put in 80hrs in two weeks thanks to being on vacation for two weeks. That's nearly a full time job, wow. Really trying hard to get the last few achievements I have left for a perfect game. Has anyone played the new spiffy special edition of the game yet? My biggest thing preventing me from the new one has to be all my favorite mods aren't available. Unmodded Skyrim is quite... vanilla to me.

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kame, tortue, tortuga, schildkröte, tartaruga, turtle

"Arthur Dent?"
"Yes."
"Arthur Philip Dent?"
"Yes."
"You're a total knee biter."

Quote (Kame @ 3rd January 2017 06:10)

I've been binging on Skyrim again. I think I nearly put in 80hrs in two weeks thanks to being on vacation for two weeks. That's nearly a full time job, wow. Really trying hard to get the last few achievements I have left for a perfect game. Has anyone played the new spiffy special edition of the game yet? My biggest thing preventing me from the new one has to be all my favorite mods aren't available. Unmodded Skyrim is quite... vanilla to me.

I got the special edition for free because i got the game of the year edition for pc, and hd edition is free to those who got the goty.

Also:I never played skyrim onmodded, even at the beginning i modded it to make it more fun.The hd model can be modded, but you have to be at the menu have internet on it and then go and download mods.

This post has been edited by Magitek_slayer on 3rd January 2017 09:24

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We are stardust.Our bodies are made from the guts of exploding stars.

Neil Degrasse Tyson.

I'm still playing League of Legends like an addict.

I'm enjoying Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Generation on my phone

Lufia 2 Ancient Cave done.

With savestates since I'm not going to spend more than an entire day's worth of time on this one dungeon.

17 of 41 blue chest treasures.
2 Iris treasures.

--------------------

current games (2024-02-19):
Fairy Fencer F ADF
Pokémon Perfect Crystal

finished so far this year:
Gato Roboto
drowning, drowning
New Super Mario Bros.
TMNT 3: Radical Rescue

tabled: Lost Ruins

Revisited my last playthrough of Pillars of Eternity. Damn near two years since I got it and I still haven't finished it. I plan on rectifying that so I can start a new playthrough, including the two expansions that have since come out for it.

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Console RPG Cliches

Still playing dark souls leveling up my weapons now.

Just got a junk weapon called titanite totem pole.

I got dragon age inquisition, but i haven't started playing yet.Maybe after i finish dark souls.

I want to revisit dragon age origins and finish it and figure out what to do.
I want to beat shin megami tensei rom on snes.I haven't figured out how though, since the game is very buggy.

I also have baldurs gate to finish.I'm unsure what to do.I lost interest in the game as the grinding part isn't too exciting.It has some interesting things, just think it could be implemented better.

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We are stardust.Our bodies are made from the guts of exploding stars.

Neil Degrasse Tyson.

So I 'beat' The Last Guardian...which means I saw the ending.



That entire sequence is just psychologically draining. I am exhausted right now. Christ...

--------------------

Arts

Farts

Twarts

Started up I Am Setsuna the other day.

RPGs tend to want to start with a bang of some sort; Dragon Quest begins you in a splendid throneroom speaking with a King at the end of a long journey. Final Fantasy reads you the words of a legend the moment you switch it on, and you select your party, then are placed in front of a castle, cue the overworld music.

It is clear to you what you're doing, where you are, and why you're there right from the get-go. Many RPGs from then on continue this trend; think the bell tolling at the start of FF6.

I Am Setsuna does something very different here; you start a new game, and you are silently dumped, without a word, into a snowy forest in the middle of the night. You are an armored red haired dude in a cape. No music, even, I don't think.

I am interested, but something is keeping me from switching it back on...

--------------------

X is blue.

I completed Castle in the Darkness. 100% on a new game (not NG+).

It's a 2D metroidvania platformer for PC. Uses sprite graphics and chiptune music and all.

Very solid game. Fast-paced gameplay. Difficult, though. Especially because the spikes are ALWAYS instant death (like in Mega Man 1). And save points are sometimes a bit far apart considering the number of hazards between them. But you respawn quickly.

There are also a ton of secrets to discover. And bosses to fight to get to some of them.

There's also a crapton of references to other games (e.g. Castlevania, Mario, Zelda, Cave Story, etc. etc. etc.) for those of you who are into that sort of thing.

There's even a New Game + which lets you do more weird things. You get different weapons and items. Like you can play as a different character.

Recommended, as long as you're ready to deal with the difficulty. But if you're careful with your platforming, you'll be rewarded.

----

I've lately been in the mood for a fantasy RPG. With some sort of party, preferably.

Watched the first Tales of Zestiria anime series but that didn't quite satisfy it. But I did enjoy it a lot. Also Tales of Berseria, which comes out in about ten days, seems quite interesting.

But I think I've settled on Trails in the Sky. I'm finally gonna get around to actually playing this.

Other finalists included:
* Tales of Symphonia
* Dragon Age: Origins
* Eternal Filena
* Magical Vacation
* Summon Night: Twin Age
* Radiant Historia

I'll get around to these...sometime. I mean, I wanna play all of them. But I just can't do all of them at once.

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 16th January 2017 08:33

--------------------

current games (2024-02-19):
Fairy Fencer F ADF
Pokémon Perfect Crystal

finished so far this year:
Gato Roboto
drowning, drowning
New Super Mario Bros.
TMNT 3: Radical Rescue

tabled: Lost Ruins

Played another 30-40 minutes of I Am Setsuna.

Who is Endir? It's really hard to say.

The main characters of Jrpgs tend to be excuse characters that are kept simple in their characteristics, to get the player into the plot somehow.

Endir is a bit different. He is a silent, but he is never offered binary choices in dialogue choice boxes. The choices you get for him to speak are distinct from each other, but almost never opposite choices...they are always in some way just different from each other, seemingly at random, though I'm certain there is some reasoning behind it all. What that is, I have not played enough of the game to figure out.

I would spoil the story by telling you how the first chapter ends, so I will focus on what I see and hear. This thing is all piano music so far. That is quite interesting. You would think it would make the music tonally bland, but frankly, the piano player (s) chosen to record this stuff have such touch range that there is a definite texture to the sound. Visually it is like the SNES era rpgs with a bit of a graphic lift, but also, and this is hard to get into a reader's mind properly, but the dimensions of houses and objects in this world are not conformed to a square grid at all, as the SNES era villages and objects in those villages were.

It takes on a more realistic atmosphere this way, and I like it. Also, they are not forgetting to use their old tricks...there is a house in the first village that is purely for show. Nice touch. Makes the village seem populated, and tells the player that not everything is worth interacting with...there is more information being given than is necessary to solve the game.

I like it so far. I feel like I've time traveled from 2000 to 2017. I can only hope the game keeps getting more interesting from here.

--------------------

X is blue.