What are you playing?

SSF2THDR, trying to main Fei Long over Sim.

Currently back on Suikoden II.

Rented and dual-beat Epic Mickey:

 Spoiler

Both for the good and bad paths. Granted, as it turned out, the ending wasn't really different at all, so I wasted my time and effort dual-beating it within a single rental.

As far as how the game was itself; I'd say the complaints aren't unfounded. Camera movement is sluggish, there are many exploitable hills that you can double jump up, end game side-quests were in fact annoying thanks to the method of transportation in game (it is fun at first, but eventually you get to the point of "we're still doing this?"), and often times it is unclear what you have to do in order to remain good or evil. But the worst thing about it was the combination of "No Backtrack" + "No Manual Saving" + "Auto-save after choices" + "Collection List". It is literally an OCD nightmare. For starters, it takes a minimum of 2 completions to get everything, and the replay was more tedious than anything. Even then, with me exploring everything I could without a guide, I only wound up with 90/105 collectibles.

All this said however, the first playthrough was enjoyable. I'd still recommend it for a rental or borrowing it from a friend if you had the chance. Otherwise, I'd wait to buy it when it is under $24, since it doesn't meet my $50 standard. Having put an equivalent of $9 in gift card value myself though, I won't be buying it later.

Had gotten a blockbuster gift card and with all the negativity around it, I just went with it.

Beat Sam & Max 101-105

 Spoiler

They were short, but entertaining, and seeing as $30 got me this and half still remains, I'd say it was worth it.

Jumped into Golden Sun: Dark Dawn and it keeps tempting me. Once I start, I want to go back into it again, even though I know I should save it for when I'm out of the house and work on my backlogged console library. Also, going OCD and making everyone master every weapon that they can equip .

Chaos really has me fairly certain I'm going to quit MS then, so I have been on it a little to finally connect my lower characters to my main via a family before I go. I might spread out my characters and allow friends to use my characters as a free warp service.

In Minecraft while browsing the mods I could use for a server, I found a couple pre-made maps and lost all motivation on completing my spawn structure for others here to use since there are far, FAR better ones out there. So that isn't gaining my attention for now. EDIT: That, and the recently announced statement that save file format will be changed anyway.

Bought DKC 2 & 3, and have $43 left of holiday money now, so I could get DKCR in the near future, but I'm thinking of leaning more towards saving for a new console. Though, I'll have to some other work in order to afford those too.

 @Sarah about Suikoden

In all likelihood, once I finish the series, I'll be reselling it. At least so far, I haven't been overwhelmed to the point that II is worth $150 to me along with years of hype that obsessed fan friend of mine gave. Oddly enough, the reason I've been procrastinating on finishing it is that the castle theme is driving me mad. I have yet to finish it, so I may change my opinion by the climax, which has happened with me before, but so far, I liked the first one better. Just beat that bastard and I apparently have peace for now.

 @Sarah about Suikoden

In all likelihood, once I finish the series, I'll be reselling it. At least so far, I haven't been overwhelmed to the point that II is worth $150 to me along with years of hype that obsessed fan friend of mine gave. Oddly enough, the reason I've been procrastinating on finishing it is that the castle theme is driving me mad. I have yet to finish it, so I may change my opinion by the climax, which has happened with me before, but so far, I liked the first one better. Just beat that bastard and I apparently have peace for now.

I forgot how far you are. What's the matter with the castle theme?

Also a huge part of Suikoden fanaticism is the lore. So if you're not actually into that then you might be missing part of the point. Things like re-occuring characters and revisited areas, dialogue changes based on who's in your party, the Old Books, Clive and Elza's sub-plot.

The main story is a classic but the depth of the Suikoden world is where the real charm is.

I forgot how far you are. What's the matter with the castle theme?

Also a huge part of Suikoden fanaticism is the lore. So if you're not actually into that then you might be missing part of the point. Things like re-occuring characters and revisited areas, dialogue changes based on who's in your party, the Old Books, Clive and Elza's sub-plot.

The main story is a classic but the depth of the Suikoden world is where the real charm is.

Well, after I finish the game I'll look up some vids on the Clive story since I gave up on that from the onset since I'm more of an explorer and I didn't like the restrictions I read about as far as that is concerned. As for the castle theme, it's just too festive for the theme of your base. I dunno, but having it repeat so many times just got to me. I can't really explain it. And yes, I guess I can see the lore going on with true runes and the ones that were created below them, but I guess I haven't played enough of the franchise to see how it all plays out. I do like lore quite a bit actually; I was up for quite some time trying to figure out the entire back story of .Hack when I first played it. Albeit a completely different theme, I enjoy it when there is something that makes you think and draw the connections yourself. As I said, too early for a final opinion by quite a bit, but my current impression doesn't account for the game becoming as valuable as it has. Still a good game, just not $150 good.

Sorry for being vague in that last post. The bastard I was referring to was Luca.

As a side note to Suikoden, was there ever a side-scrolling game that played a heck of a lot like Maple in the Suikoden theme made in china? Years ago that friend of mine lent me a disk with an untranslated version of Suikoden 1 and something like that that could be played on PC. Obviously a rip of some sort, but I've never heard of that game outside of what I recall playing back then.

Well, after I finish the game I'll look up some vids on the Clive story since I gave up on that from the onset since I'm more of an explorer and I didn't like the restrictions I read about as far as that is concerned. As for the castle theme, it's just too festive for the theme of your base. I dunno, but having it repeat so many times just got to me. I can't really explain it. And yes, I guess I can see the lore going on with true runes and the ones that were created below them, but I guess I haven't played enough of the franchise to see how it all plays out. I do like lore quite a bit actually; I was up for quite some time trying to figure out the entire back story of .Hack when I first played it. Albeit a completely different theme, I enjoy it when there is something that makes you think and draw the connections yourself. As I said, too early for a final opinion by quite a bit, but my current impression doesn't account for the game becoming as valuable as it has. Still a good game, just not $150 good.

Sorry for being vague in that last post. The bastard I was referring to was Luca.

As a side note to Suikoden, was there ever a side-scrolling game that played a heck of a lot like Maple in the Suikoden theme made in china? Years ago that friend of mine lent me a disk with an untranslated version of Suikoden 1 and something like that that could be played on PC. Obviously a rip of some sort, but I've never heard of that game outside of what I recall playing back then.

No idea about the last part.

And ah, the Luca Blight battle. It's so epic. He's such a freaking tank too. I remember thinking that would be the end of the game the first time I played it, especially given how difficult it is.

Also most of the game's value is on account of it being ridiculous rare, not because it's spectacular.

While the runes are interesting, the lore I'm referring to is more character and world based. Like the wars that you don't get to play through but hear about through various sources in the games. Or the way one game connects to another (in Suikoden V the Island Nations from Suikoden IV come to assist (but IV takes place 150 years before V so obviously the characters you meet are just descendants of those from IV)). Character relations and lore include what the hell happens to Victor and the Star Dragon Sword after II, because some kid ends up with SDS in III. There's a triggered scene where the SDS mutters something about the 'old fool' losing him on a bet. Also in 2 if you bring Flik with you when you first meet Hix and Tengaar they have an extended scene because of their connection from 1. But there's also tons of unsolved mysteries like WHO / WHAT ARE JEANE AND VIKI and what's the real deal with Pesmerga and Yuber.

I could go on for days but I won't.


Anyway, now playing AC: Brotherhood and Kingdom Hearts RE: Coded

Also most of the game's value is on account of it being ridiculous rare, not because it's spectacular.

 Spoiler

While the runes are interesting, the lore I'm referring to is more character and world based. Like the wars that you don't get to play through but hear about through various sources in the games. Or the way one game connects to another (in Suikoden V the Island Nations from Suikoden IV come to assist (but IV takes place 150 years before V so obviously the characters you meet are just descendants of those from IV)). Character relations and lore include what the hell happens to Victor and the Star Dragon Sword after II, because some kid ends up with SDS in III. There's a triggered scene where the SDS mutters something about the 'old fool' losing him on a bet. Also in 2 if you bring Flik with you when you first meet Hix and Tengaar they have an extended scene because of their connection from 1. But there's also tons of unsolved mysteries like WHO / WHAT ARE JEANE AND VIKI and what's the real deal with Pesmerga and Yuber.

I could go on for days but I won't.

First off, the obvious. Spoilers please; remember that I'm still in the midst of 2. Second, I wasn't discrediting the series as a whole, only 2 because of it's insane cost.

 Spoiler

But yes, some of the brooding characters aren't fully explained which leaves me curious. Much of the time I got tired of the castle theme was waiting for the detective to get more info on the characters after I was fed up waiting for the squirrels.

I can see that the way the games are built, extrapolation of the environment can be done with relative ease, but at this point sequentially the world itself is not too unique as far as RPGs go. Once more, as I get through the entire series, my opinion will likely change. What you've mentioned does sound like something I'd be interested in as back when I played Chrono Cross for the first time I examined it like crazy to spot the connections despite how the game suffered in several fronts. I just get stuck in series like these occasionally and find it near impossible to get back into it. I've been in the middle of the Xenosaga series for years now. Once you lose the memory of those connections and forget the story of the game it becomes really difficult to get back into it. But I digress.

More on topic;
Beat Sam & Max 104-203
Played Suikoden II

 Spoiler

Got the Suikoden 1 hero, but the game crashed shortly after doing so. And yeah, I had looked that up. I generally only check the cheats section for RPGs since more often than not it contains missables and unlocks information.

Not playing 40+ hour games that require commitment at the moment since my dog is guilt tripping me whenever I don't pay attention to her now since she has less than a week left... Although, I've been trying to get a little in here and there at night while she's asleep. Hence me being up til 5:19 AM... sleep would be good now come to think of it.

Sorry. None of those things were plot related, with the exception of the Luca Blight mention.

A little before Christmas, I got Hotel Dusk and was planning to play that over vacation. Then Persona 3 Portable happened. I got P3P for Christmas, and started it up while I was on a particularly long flight to where I was going to over break. I haven't been able to put the game down, and I've already sunk in over 20 hours into it in the past two weeks. I haven't played the original Persona 3, because I didn't own a PS2 until recently; so the entire thing is new to me. It's absolutely addictive, and I've been having a blast with it. Managing how to max social links and maxing Academics, Charm, and Courage can be really addictive. Grinding and climbing up Tartarus hasn't really bored me yet, I enjoy trying to push myself further and further until the boss and eventually getting as far as you can go up the block. Also, I hate the requests that need you to get something on a certain day. While I was going through them, I eventually slipped up on the one for "protein not for pros" because I forgot all about it, and saved over my file on the next day. FFFFFFFFFFFFFff---

I'm waiting for Kingdom Hearts Re:coded, which should be arriving on Friday or Saturday. Can't wait to play it in English.

I got a bunch of new games from Chrimbus, so I'm on a schedule of sorts for them. I'm in the middle of my Persona 4 play through, stuck on SHADOW FUCKING MITSUO. I just beat the Matador in SMT:Nocturne. FFFUUCCK YEAAH. Wasn't as hard as I expected, but I did die twice before I killed him. World 6 in DKCR is a god damned troll, making me think I had gotten to the boss after that facewall inducing level. Picked up the original Disgaea and restarted FFVII on my PSP, enjoying both very much. I'm pretty much being a troll in CoD: Black Ops, making people rage with my suckiness.

I'm waiting for Kingdom Hearts Re:coded, which should be arriving on Friday or Saturday. Can't wait to play it in English.

If it's not too late, I'd advise against buying this.

Absolutely awful.

If it's not too late, I'd advise against buying this.

Absolutely awful.

Well it IS a Kingdom Hearts game.

Huaehuaehuae.

Finished Goldensun dark dawn

 Spoiler

People aren't kidding when they say this game is easy, Only time I died was when I accidently stumbled on to dullahan with no warning or preperation (2 Identical rooms next to each other, with summon tablets in, one completely unguarded, the other also looks completely unguarded, then out of pineappleing nowhere comes dullahan to rape you. And he works the same as he did in TLA, so he wiped both my parties in 4 turns because I wasn't expecting him). Course, once I knew he was there, killed him like every other monster, but still.

On the flipside, I only used the "attack" option for every regular battle in the game. And most of the boss fights other than occasional healing psyenergy. Somehow giving every weapon after about halfway 3 + unleashes that are at the very least as strong as your psyenergy, and the enemies doing almost 0 damage if you buy current armours... How did this make in to the game

Also, can't they at least close half the some of the major plot points they start in any of these damn games. We're never going to get to find out what alex is actually doing, fact. Also the after credits scene is just to slap you in the face with "SEQUEL HOOK KTHEEND"
And don't get me started on missable djinn and summons.

And I know I'm still going to buy the next one. bah humbug

Well, back to Maple and Minecraft for me. I've been playing Maple since BB struck, and Minecraft on and off throughout. I've been thinking about picking up Red Dead Redemption again, but I just keep playing Maple or Minecraft. Also, I really want to pick up Arkham Asylum, but everywhere I go only has it for the 360. :^|

Little Fighter 1 and 2 (sometimes, coz of good memory)

 LF1, dos game

[video=youtube;IvPGub8_wJc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvPGub8_wJc[/video]

 LF2

[video=youtube;wOJFhh1rCM0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOJFhh1rCM0&feature=related[/video]

Diablo2
Maplestory

If it's not too late, I'd advise against buying this.

Absolutely awful.

I already played it in Japanese, and I loved it. Sure, the story isn't as exiting as the stories in the other entries in the series, but I think the gameplay is amazing, even with the random gameplay style changes (I would've liked it if they added a way to battle some the bosses with the regular combat system too).

Replaying Paper Mario for the 5th time. As in the first one. C:

Tales of Symphonia (The first one)

IHY SWORD DANCER.

Replaying Paper Mario for the 5th time. As in the first one. C:

I loved that one and the thousand year door too, but I could never get into Super paper mario, I've had it for a long time but whenever I try to pick it up I get bored and stop playing it.

i'm always playing mh tri