What are you playing?

LoM is really unwelcoming to newcomers. There are a lot of really esoteric systems, and it has a really staccato rhythm to its storytelling. So I understand why people can be put off by it. It might actually be a game best experienced with a walkthrough, for many.

That was basically my party, except I had Hawkeye instead of Kevin, and Reese was my main character. I personally don't think you have to have a particular setup to get through the game, but Charlotte is the only real healer, and sometimes people recommend having her. I think she might have been the source of a number of bugs in the original game, though. I wouldn't get too hung up on the class choices. You will lock yourself out of two classes in the third tier, after your first choice, but you can pretty much go with what feels right. It was a pretty chill game until it gets near the end, originally, and I would imagine they probably toned down the difficulty a bit for the remake, anyway.
 
So far at 11 and a half hours...time really flies when you’re not working lol. Normally I’d get home too bear to play much and take weeks to sink that kind of time in.

So I’ve got 4 elementals left to find and the world has opened up with sea travel. Only had one huge difficulty spike with one boss(Zehnoa? I think) where it wouldn’t have been so bad without the floor spikes and fire tornadoes. But eventually I got it. I guess I might be underleveled a bit but other than that I haven’t felt the need to grind...at least compared to FF7R right now which has seen me spending hours trying to max out all the materia.
 
Master Chief Collection and Phantasy Star Online 2.

I honestly forgot how epic Halo 3 is. Especially the scarab fights and THAT ending.

Phantasy Star Online 2 is just a total time sink, like the first lol
 
Rydeen said:
I started playing Shin Megami Tensei II again, after dropping it for a while, back in September or October of last year. I was getting a little tired of it, and was also sort of stuck, because I couldn't figure out where it wanted me to go to encounter the Demi-Nandi that went out of control in the Factory area. After picking it back up, I talked with some people in the bar again, and realized that I needed to sweep the farm area for a very specific tile to encounter this Demi-Nandi. Went to Arcadia, and talked with Jesus (I had actually forgotten that I named who I thought would be the Light Hero, Jesus, who I thought was the Dark Hero, Akunin, and whoever the third one was, Tachiwaru--I think he ended up being a Neutral Hero (?)).

After that, I spent something like three nights trying to get past the first trip into the Tokyo aftermath from SMT, to rescue the heroine--this game is a direct sequel to SMT, but it seems to want to use the travelling to the underworld aspect of Megami Tensei II, also. The first two times, I had gotten caught by Arch Angels in the bottom basement floor of the Factory, where you basically start. The third time, I had gone through all of that floor (it's very large). Mixed the Nandi that I had my eye on, befriended an Arch Angel, got a pretty good weapon drop for my hero from a pack of Angels, got a Screw Lance from some Wyrms, found a sprite named Naja, and was about to head up to the prison on the upper floors, but decided to go back to heal at a lab (neutral healing center) first. On my way to do that, I encountered some Ghouls who death touched Naja (who I switched with Nandi as my walking around monster), and then me. I lost about two hours of my time from that, and was pretty upset. Saving can only be done at terminals, which there are only five of, so far, and all of them are up in Millenium. It just shouldn't have happened, though. I had to check the devil analyzer after to confirm that they actually even had death touch. I'd taken out tons of them, and not seen it before. They almost never use it.

It took about six or seven more attempts, but I was finally able to get through there with most of those things I was hunting for. I did not go back to heal before heading up to the jail cells. Had to fight Tachiwaru, and sacrifice Naja, but I got the (light? chaos?) heroine back. She's way underleveled now, unfortunately. I may not enjoy SMT II as much as Megami Tensei, or SMT (maybe not even Megami Tensei II) so far, but I do enjoy the player agency these games provide, for early-ish JRPGs. I always try to go Neutral route (where applicable), so it's just nice to be able to make decisions toward that goal, recruit similarly minded monsters, and even avoid most fights by talking with monsters, if I want. I'm not expecting much from the story this time around, but I want to finish it in order to move onto the Devil Summoner games on the Saturn, and SMT III.
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I have the first SMT: DS game for the Saturn, since there is a guide I can use.

I've playing a little bit, here and there, but I don't think I will truly have enough time to play through my whole backlog until the summer; I can't stand the heat (and my body doesn't do well outside in the heat), so I tend to stay indoors quite a bit, in the summer. I have a fair amount to play before it (VIRUS, Wachenroder {REALLY looking forward to these two titles}, Wizardry: Llylgamin Saga, Princess Crown and playing the best version of Lunar Eternal Blue), but I'm looking to get to it by the time the year is out.

Also have Policenauts, but I'm just going to Pseudo Saturn and play the translated version (:$).

EDIT* Forgot to mention that I'm on level 14 of Shellshock (11 more to go!). At level 8, the game difficulty ramps up... significantly.

Level 4 introduces helicopter gunships (Hueys basically, with chaingun), but that level literally has to be completed in 1-2 minutes or less, so you're bombing through anyways.

Level 8 though, introduces them outright and... my god, they are the worst nuisance I've ever dealt with in 27+ years of gaming. HOLY SHIT do they ever get in the way.

The thing is, there are no game mechanics or issues with them, in terms of WHY they are a nuisance... you just need to let them pass over you, then turn your turret (or tank) around, then chaingun them. If you don't, they will nip a bit of armour, here and there. But 3 can be on screen at once and you need to keep moving, because everytime you stop, they catch up a bit more and more, until they are in shooting range.

And they respawn; CONSTANTLY, it is majorly-hair-pulling.

It doesn't take away from the game's fun and charm though; this is still a ton of fun and a ton of tactics must be used, even if your tank gets souped up quite a bit (which makes ground enemies BEYOND a breeze). Story has continuity and I like how they've created their own little world, amongst the real-world; good stuff.

If you like challenging games, this is definitely a winner on the Saturn. Will do a full write-up once I beat the game, probably in about a week or so.
 
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Modern Warfare 2 Remastered -- Wanted something linear and quick so I grabbed that remastered Modern Warfare 2 single player campaign. Played through on Veteran over the weekend. Probably the best single player campaign of that entire franchise. Might platinum it, I'm at 55% now and it looks quite easy to do now that Veteran playthrough is out of the way.

Yakuza 0 -- I went back to Yakuza 0 for a little bit last night to plug away at that 100% list...and was subsequently reminded why I gave up on it in the first place. That damn dancing game. I like rhythm games, but I find that dancing game to be brutal at times. It's really unforgiving and I just don't have the patience for the hard difficulties. I got the list up from 79% to 81% after grinding out some of the gambling and hunting down all phone cards, but I don't think I'll ever platinum that game. As much as I love it, it honestly burnt me out after 150 hours of playing in total. Don't know if I have the patience to grind out that 100% list for both Majima and Kiryu.

Final Fantasy VII Remake -- Cleaned up what remained of side quests. About to start the endgame. Might get back to it tonight.
 
Sonoshee said:
Phantasy Star Online 2 is just a total time sink, like the first lol
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Does it still include shady, back alley dealings of hacked weapons and MAGs in which one person is very likely to get fleeced? If not, I'm not sure it technically qualifies as a sequel.


Truck_1_0_1_ said:
I have the first SMT: DS game for the Saturn, since there is a guide I can use.

I've playing a little bit, here and there, but I don't think I will truly have enough time to play through my whole backlog until the summer; I can't stand the heat (and my body doesn't do well outside in the heat), so I tend to stay indoors quite a bit, in the summer. I have a fair amount to play before it (VIRUS, Wachenroder {REALLY looking forward to these two titles}, Wizardry: Llylgamin Saga, Princess Crown and playing the best version of Lunar Eternal Blue), but I'm looking to get to it by the time the year is out.

Also have Policenauts, but I'm just going to Pseudo Saturn and play the translated version (:$).
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I've heard that the first Devil Summoner is much less interesting than Soul Hackers, but I want to eventually play all of the games in the franchise that Okada Kouji was involved with.

I've played a little bit of Wachenroder. I'm a big fan of Renji Murata, so the artwork is really a treat for me. The opening was amazingly powerful, but I got clobbered by the first fight. I wasn't really intending to play through it at the time, but it seemed unwinnable, and it definitely gave me a game over when I lost. Speaking of Saturn SRPGs, I love Terra Phantastica to death. It's such a great game, and it's by Chime, who made another game I really love called Napple Tale. (They also did Dragon Force II.)

I've played Princess Crown before, and it was pretty good. It's sort of sluggish, and getting the true ending requires a lot of going through the same/similar areas with different characters, but it's a real looker. The story was fairly decent, as I recall. I liked Muramasa a lot more, though. Did it get a fan translation at some point? I actually liked the Sega CD version of Lunar Silver Star way more than the Saturn version, so I actually made it a point to get the Sega CD version of Eternal Blue as well, even though I've had the Saturn version for, basically, ever. Isn't Eternal Blue on the Saturn essentially the Playstation version with lower quality FMV?

I don't know if it has a translation yet, but my favorite RPG on the Saturn is Linda Cube. (Yes, I like it even more than PDS.) I highly recommend it. It is awesome. It has a bit of Akira-style body horror, but there aren't really any other games quite like it.

I've played Snatcher and Policenauts (with the shuttle mouse) on the Saturn. I really liked Snatcher, but I kind of hated Policenauts. I seem to be in the minority with that, though.
 
Rydeen said:
Does it still include shady, back alley dealings of hacked weapons and MAGs in which one person is very likely to get fleeced? If not, I'm not sure it technically qualifies as a sequel.



I've heard that the first Devil Summoner is much less interesting than Soul Hackers, but I want to eventually play all of the games in the franchise that Okada Kouji was involved with.

I've played a little bit of Wachenroder. I'm a big fan of Renji Murata, so the artwork is really a treat for me. The opening was amazingly powerful, but I got clobbered by the first fight. I wasn't really intending to play through it at the time, but it seemed unwinnable, and it definitely gave me a game over when I lost. Speaking of Saturn SRPGs, I love Terra Phantastica to death. It's such a great game, and it's by Chime, who made another game I really love called Napple Tale. (They also did Dragon Force II.)

I've played Princess Crown before, and it was pretty good. It's sort of sluggish, and getting the true ending requires a lot of going through the same/similar areas with different characters, but it's a real looker. The story was fairly decent, as I recall. I liked Muramasa a lot more, though. Did it get a fan translation at some point? I actually liked the Sega CD version of Lunar Silver Star way more than the Saturn version, so I actually made it a point to get the Sega CD version of Eternal Blue as well, even though I've had the Saturn version for, basically, ever. Isn't Eternal Blue on the Saturn essentially the Playstation version with lower quality FMV?

I don't know if it has a translation yet, but my favorite RPG on the Saturn is Linda Cube. (Yes, I like it even more than PDS.) I highly recommend it. It is awesome. It has a bit of Akira-style body horror, but there aren't really any other games quite like it.

I've played Snatcher and Policenauts (with the shuttle mouse) on the Saturn. I really liked Snatcher, but I kind of hated Policenauts. I seem to be in the minority with that, though.
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I will say that from what I've seen, Soul Hackers looked like the better bet and I was a bit miffed when there wasn't a guide for it :( Oh well!

I picked up Wachenroder because it has an AWESOME guide on Gfaqs and the music was done by Ian McDonald of King Crimson (well, a few tracks lol); I hate the band (REALLY don't like their music lol), but they are one of my dad's 3 favourite bands, thus the music in the game can't possibly be all that bad. Love the Steampunk setting as well, but I detest SRPGs and this will be my first foray into actually playing one, outside of Shining Force (which is a great series, no doubt, but really not my cup of tea).

Napple Tale, Arsia in Daydream for the DC? I picked up a factory-sealed copy when I was in Osaka (the only videogame shop I went to while in Japan :'( I was in HEAVEN), for I think only 5900 Yen and I will eventually get to that too! :D

Princess Crown did get an English patch, AFAIR, as some of the, "every (Insert Console) game," lists on YT, show the story text in English. Thankfully, I've read that it's a game that isn't 50 hours to play through, which is a good thing :)

Lunar is definitely my favourite RPG series ever (though I've only ever played the ones on Sega consoles), but SS is... not my favourite. Great game on the Sega CD, but didn't really like the characters or setting as much as EB (Ghaleon's... machine lol, aside). EB is my favourite RPG ever (5th favourite game outright) and I absolutely adore it to pieces; outside of Yakuza and Shenmue, I have never replayed a story-driven game, after initially beating it, but EB may be the first one... You are correct in that it is the same as the PS version, thus I can just use the guide there if I get stuck and I remember the story vividly, so I won't be thrown off. Lunar Magical School! I also love to death and it is an excellent game in its own right... really too bad that Game Arts essentially abandoned the series :(

Linda3 I've wanted to get as well! It does look superb, but no, no guide or translation :(

Snatcher is my 6th favourite game ever lol, so I'm hoping Policenauts will be somewhat similar ;)
 
Truck_1_0_1_ said:
I will say that from what I've seen, Soul Hackers looked like the better bet and I was a bit miffed when there wasn't a guide for it :( Oh well!

I picked up Wachenroder because it has an AWESOME guide on Gfaqs and the music was done by Ian McDonald of King Crimson (well, a few tracks lol); I hate the band (REALLY don't like their music lol), but they are one of my dad's 3 favourite bands, thus the music in the game can't possibly be all that bad. Love the Steampunk setting as well, but I detest SRPGs and this will be my first foray into actually playing one, outside of Shining Force (which is a great series, no doubt, but really not my cup of tea).

Napple Tale, Arsia in Daydream for the DC? I picked up a factory-sealed copy when I was in Osaka (the only videogame shop I went to while in Japan :'( I was in HEAVEN), for I think only 5900 Yen and I will eventually get to that too! :D

Princess Crown did get an English patch, AFAIR, as some of the, "every (Insert Console) game," lists on YT, show the story text in English. Thankfully, I've read that it's a game that isn't 50 hours to play through, which is a good thing :)

Lunar is definitely my favourite RPG series ever (though I've only ever played the ones on Sega consoles), but SS is... not my favourite. Great game on the Sega CD, but didn't really like the characters or setting as much as EB (Ghaleon's... machine lol, aside). EB is my favourite RPG ever (5th favourite game outright) and I absolutely adore it to pieces; outside of Yakuza and Shenmue, I have never replayed a story-driven game, after initially beating it, but EB may be the first one... You are correct in that it is the same as the PS version, thus I can just use the guide there if I get stuck and I remember the story vividly, so I won't be thrown off. Lunar Magical School! I also love to death and it is an excellent game in its own right... really too bad that Game Arts essentially abandoned the series :(

Linda3 I've wanted to get as well! It does look superb, but no, no guide or translation :(

Snatcher is my 6th favourite game ever lol, so I'm hoping Policenauts will be somewhat similar ;)
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I had no idea a member of King Crimson contributed to the music in Wachenroder. That's nuts. I remember the BGM during the opening cutscene being really great, and fitting nicely with the setup for the story, but I'm pretty sure it couldn't have been one of his contributions, lol.

Yeah, Napple Tale on the Dreamcast. That's a pretty nice find, if it was in the last ten years or so. It was pretty uncommon even when I bought it. It's a little rough around the edges, but I really enjoyed it, partly due to two things: Soundtrack by Yoko Kanno, and one of my favorite moments in a video game, at the end of the Autumn world.

Speaking of Renji Murata, and JP-only Dreamcast games, Blue Sub no 6 is also great. Half of it is a VN, so that's on more of the language intensive side (it's a pretty good story for fans of the franchise, though), but it plays out in a bunch of submarine action stages that will put the fear of god in you. I still have nightmares about the giant squids, and lightning fast, mutant sharks.

Silver Star definitely wasn't the best game I've ever played, but I kind of liked it. I felt it was pretty all right. Sounds like I'll have to get around to Eternal Blue sooner rather than later, though. I've been meaning to play it for a while. Maybe I'll actually start it up after I finish SMT II.
 
IRL the cabaret game is something like:

- Alright Kiryu this is it, we're gonna make the final mission, are you ready?
- Wait, hold on a sec

*Twenty days of cabaret gameplay*
- Nice, I defeated all the cabarets, did the dates with my girls and now I have all the pretty hostess... OH SHIT I FORGOT THE MISSION

581469.jpg


I love that shit
 
Officially into the groove of Valkyria Chronicles now. That scene where Welkin and Alicia fail to save the enemy solider in the cabin had me choking up ngl. Haven't "completed" the main story yet, but this really does seem like a great game so far. And sub over dub is definitely the way to go.
 
Dietsoap said:
Officially into the groove of Valkyria Chronicles now. That scene where Welkin and Alicia fail to save the enemy solider in the cabin had me choking up ngl. Haven't "completed" the main story yet, but this really does seem like a great game so far. And sub over dub is definitely the way to go.
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Yaaayyyyy :love: :love: :love: :love: :love: :love:

There are more of "choking up" moments. Hold your pants.
 
Beat Shellshock last night.

It is definitely nothing more than a 7/10-8/10 game, but man, it was so much fun, has great personality and the story wraps up quite well!

There is a decent amount of variation in the types of missions (though aside from escort and rescue missions, the rest are blowing things up... but each one has you blowing up different things! :D), so it doesn't get TOO stale, but the difficulty indeed ramps up VERY quickly and those damn helicopters basically make you just rush through things.

Still a super, super-fun title and the rapping in the game was done by former SF 49ers Fullback, William Floyd :LOL:.

Like Vatlva, a lot of love went into this game and it has heart and soul!
 
I am playing Sakura Wars on my PS4 at the moment. I never have played the the originals yet but I really enjoy the new take on Sakura Wars so far. Now I am even more curious on the first games on the Saturn und the Dreamcast: I think I will give them a try soon.

On the Saturn I just started Panzer Dragoon Saga. Interesting game as well.
 
Still working on the Modern Warfare 2 Remastered Platinum

Finally got the one trophy that was causing me a massive headache! Beat the training course in 19.5 seconds or under. I spent 2 hours just now on this and finally got it at 19.5 seconds right on the dot!


Finally! One step closer to Platinum #97

Streets of Rage 4 -- Soooooooo good! This might be my favourite game of the year so far! Tough call, especially considering I played through Yakuza 7 already. But yeah, Yakuza 7 and Streets of Rage 4 are the clear front runners so far for me. Just so, so, so good! Can the people who did this maybe give us a Shinobi game next? Let them have some other franchises SEGA, they've earned the right!
 
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Making good progress in SMT II. Now I am become death, and I unsealed Amaterasu--it's sort of retread of Izanami/Izanagi in Megami Tensei II, but oh well--and all of the other Yamato gods who were locked away in the remnants of old Tokyo. Feels good, man.
 
I'm feeling the urge to start Shenmue III again. Now that all the DLC is done and out, I figure I might re-start from the beginning and finally clean up that platinum. The urge is indeed rising.

But I've still got to finish Final Fantasy VII Remake, Persona 5 Royale and Platinum Modern Warfare 2 Remastered yet.
 
Death Stranding. It's an okay game, but no way it should've gotten a 40 in Famitsu. I think it's a unique game that you have to be aware of, but in terms of open world, it's just like any other where you are in an open land and have little to nobody to interact with other than enemies to engage in. It's beautifully designed for sure, but by no means perfect
 
Well, I finished the Trials of Mana remake at about 30 hours - granted, some of that was leaving the game paused and a lot of the time was spent grinding, even on easy, just to keep up with a few dumb difficulty spikes and unbalanced parts.

Overall I enjoyed it but those things definitely factor in when giving it any kind of score or recommendation. I found a lot of stuff fair at first but many later bosses just have so much to throw at you in quick succession that the movement system often just can’t make due unfortunately. Especially the new stuff after the “end” which I feel is a lot more poorly designed and drags on way too long in the final dungeon.

I will be going through new game plus just to see the other classes I missed, but I’m a bit peeved finding out the weapons are locked to classes and the costumes you already had don’t carry over. Don’t think I’ll bother with the other three characters.

After this, if I have time, I’ll try the original game as I have the Collection downloaded. But I want to replay Deadly Premonition before the next one comes out and even having it all memorized it still takes a bit of time to 100%
 
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