What games are you currently playing?

[Armando]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

I started up Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, which I will be playing in parallel with Chrono Cross at my friend's behest.

This is my first Fire Emblem game. The leveling system is painful and the AI is blindingly stupid.

That isn't to say I'm not enjoying the game a lot, but wow.

[Lmnop]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Seifer would have been yet another sword-wielder and the game was already short on mages and very heavy on warrior types. Granted, each character has been given their own specializations but it would have still been nice to see more class variety.

Despite what S-E says, we know the whole reason for Jecht is because the Chaos side had way too many mages and not enough melee for Seymour to join the ranks. Trade out Jecht for Seymour and Ultimecia for Seifer, and their balance would've been the same w/out feeling like a good guy is on the bad side.

[Durahansolo]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Went and reserved Halo:ODST against my better judgement, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, and Modern Warfare 2: Prestige Edition today.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

This is my first Fire Emblem game. The leveling system is painful and the AI is blindingly stupid.

You say that now, just wait, you haven't found out how cruel a Fire Emblem game can be yet. Also, if 100 EXP per level is painful, then what are other RPGs?

The only tremendous mistake Path or Radiance made was issuing you a paladin from the get-go. They have the best movement range early on, and they can take hits and deal damage like monsters. Its actually in your best interest to NOT use Titania much early on because if you do, the AI will just rush her since she's closer and she'll soak up all the early EXP. By the same token, don't neglect her or you'll regret it.

I unlocked Shantotto and Gabranth in Dissida, man they're insane, but they're also difficult to get off the grond, Gabranth even moreso than Shantotto. I'm gonna spend some time on them and finish up leveling Cecil, who's getting pretty crazy. After that, I'm going to start down the Inward Chaos storyarc.

[Tickmeoff]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

I started up Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, which I will be playing in parallel with Chrono Cross at my friend's behest.

This is my first Fire Emblem game. The leveling system is painful and the AI is blindingly stupid.

That isn't to say I'm not enjoying the game a lot, but wow.

I could never get into Fire Emblem much. I enjoy them at the start, but as the battles slowly get longer and longer I end up losing interest. It's also incredibly disheartening to go through an hour long battle to have someone take a critical hit right at the end and die. I refuse to let things like this happen so it always leads to a reset and retry.


I've been playing Parasite Eve. How the fuck did I never play this sex? It's like Resident Evil Fantasy VIII.

[Malacite]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

lol just wait until you get into the class changes in Fire Emblem...

Ok, I'm finally done all the Oddysies, working on the Shade Impluse now. So far the only character I truly can't stand (out of the good guys anyway) is Terra. Awful voice, complete wuss, she's like a shadow of what she was in 6. Her play style is god awful too OMG.

Why the hell is it that Cloud is the only hero with decent HP attacks? Everyone else's is either too damn slow, easily countered or just plain bad and I'm not saying this for lack of effort... I just found Cross Slash & Braver are much easier to land. Fated Circle isn't too bad, but the game doesn't have any kind of stun attacks to use to set enemies up for an HP attack; the best you can do is launch them into a chase and even then the AI cheats like hell with it's evasion. I'm still trying to get the hang of those too, as they always managed to trip me up by switching to an HP attack (you only have a split second to dodge a bravery attack so I usually end up jumping the gun...)

[Armando]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

You say that now, just wait, you haven't found out how cruel a Fire Emblem game can be yet. Also, if 100 EXP per level is painful, then what are other RPGs?

It's not the rate of EXP that painful, it's how it rewards the strong and starves the weak characters, when it should be backwards. A weak character has less opportunities to gain EXP because its weakness means it can't be thrown into combat so readily. The weaker the character, the more difficult it is to find an enemy against which you can pit it.

It doesn't help that they've got this rock-paper-scissors system going yet the Daein army, which has been pretty much my only adversaries since the plot took off, seems to employ 85% polearm users, 10% sword users and 5% axe users. Boyd is overleveled by virtue of being the only character with an axe other than Titania (which I haven't touched, because as you said, it's shooting myself in the foot.) Mia is having a terribly hard time leveling because every damned unit is using a polearm, and her stats haven't matured quite enough to have an upper hand against other sword users. If it weren't for the fact that I gave her that Armorbreaker sword, I'd be hard-pressed to find a use for her.

The random, probability-based stat distributions on level up are also awful sometimes. Yes, in the long run they're more or less the same as a predetermined stat growth, but in terms of immediate gain, they often fail to provide the stats that a weak character needs so desperately. The very last thing I want to see when trying to bring a newer, weak, underleveled character up to speed is to finally get a level up and end up with +1 magic. That's an exercise in masochism. Fighting and EXP'ing is supposed to get easier with each level, but every "bad" level leaves me at at the same sub-par performance and EXP speed as the last.

Your EXP comparison isn't very fair either. 100 EXP is relative to the level of your characters and the level of the enemies. And even then that's not very meaningful in and of itself. The rate at which you level during the course of "natural" gameplay and how much additional grinding the game demands in order to perform reasonably are far better indications of cruelty.

Granted, the game does seem to cushion the blow somewhat with this bonus EXP business, but I have to wonder if it's even worth dumping a large sum of bonus EXP on a character that may have a poor stat growth. I don't even know how readily I'm going to be gaining this bonus EXP. In the meantime it's safer and productive across the board to feed my characters that last bit of EXP they need for the next level before the next fight, without putting all my eggs in one basket.

Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying the game, but the fact that I find myself fretting so much over how much more EXP Boyd can get compared to everyone else is irritating.

[Raydeus]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Why the hell is it that Cloud is the only hero with decent HP attacks? Everyone else's is either too damn slow, easily countered or just plain bad and I'm not saying this for lack of effort... I just found Cross Slash & Braver are much easier to land. Fated Circle isn't too bad, but the game doesn't have any kind of stun attacks to use to set enemies up for an HP attack; the best you can do is launch them into a chase and even then the AI cheats like hell with it's evasion. I'm still trying to get the hang of those too, as they always managed to trip me up by switching to an HP attack (you only have a split second to dodge a bravery attack so I usually end up jumping the gun...)

You are treating it like a button mashing game aren't ya?

Don't.

There's a lot of strategy you can use, and also remember to use the terrain to your advantage, HP/Brave attacks that are awful on a frontal charge are great for ambushes.

Also remember you have different equip sets so you can gear up (mostly skill-wise) for different battles.

Also, the chase is pretty useless and at least for me 95% of the time they end up as ties because neither of us can connect an attack. But looks pretty cool regardless.

[Tickmeoff]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Parasite Eve 1 finished. All fucking kinds of win. I might rip the ISO and convert it for use on the PSP so I can play new game+ on the go.

Now I start Parasite Eve 2. I have been warned in advance that I should be prepared for disappointment.

[Lmnop]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

I never actually finished the first Parasite Eve (though I watched my brother do so). I consider replaying the game about once/year. But then I remember how slow the main character (aya?) runs. Ugh.

I never touched 2, though I'd like to play it. Especially with this new title around the very large corner. I hear her butt is distractingly big in 2.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

A lot of the Auto abilities - though low in CP cost - should be avoided at all costs in Dissidia, possibly with the exception of Auto EX Defense. Auto chase will just prolong the pain of taking on characters that are difficult to judge and with Shantotto, she's the hardest to judge since she's so damn small.

[Malacite]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Parasite Eve 1 finished. All fucking kinds of win. I might rip the ISO and convert it for use on the PSP so I can play new game+ on the go.

yes it is and I wish they'd put it on PSN. 2 was very weird ><;


So I've been "cheating" lol, leveling up Squall and whoring AP in quick battle by fighting easy AI's with a constant special day bonus (all you gotta do is keep changing the date on your PSP to your bonus day)

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

I think Squall is the close range cheeser of Dissidia. Especially if he has that head-stomping attack equipped. At least he isn't all cheese like The Emperor, though. I also ran into a retarded version of Kuja that spams Ultima to the point you can barely do anything to reach him.

I'm loving Cecil the more and more I level him and Terra was pretty damn great as well. I need more abilities mastered on Terra, though. I think Cloud, Kefka and Shantotto will be who I level up afterward. I have to look over what Gabranth has to offer because he's very short on both Bravery and HP attacks. Hell, he can't even do HP attacks without triggering EX Mode first and he can't combo any of his initial bravery attacks, that's really painful.

Shantotto has all her HP attacks unlocked from the get-go, though, she's just short on Bravery attacks.

I LOVE how much detail they put into Shantotto, though. Her EX Mode emulates Manafont, allowing for three HP attacks without depleting Bravery, her EX Burst starts with Earth Crusher into Howling Fist, then requires you to first burst Flare, then rotate all the other AMs in the elemental order proper to FFXI.

Other FFXI details are loaded within her. While slightly exaggerated, she can't move while casting spells, even when airborne. Her elemental staves "macro" in an out to match up with the proper spell. Her EX Mode graphic has her in Cobra Unit Attire, but her alternate look is BLM AF and it EXs into the BLM relic. One of her default bravery attacks is Retribution and her ultimate weapon is the relic staff.

She can also use Bio to sap opponents' Bravery, cast Bind and a few other spells from FFXI. She's really faithful to FFXI and looks really fun to play.

The voice for her character is pretty good, too. I always imagined something similar, but with a higher pitch. Nonetheless her actress suits her just fine.

[DakAttack]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

I've started playing Crystal Defenders. I'm not moving from the very first map until I've mastered it. So far, I can't defeat a single wave ten or twenty without the help of Ramuh, and I can't get past wave twenty-seven. I like how they vary the speed of the waves, and what the enemies have resistances to, to test your layout, but every once in a while they just bitch slap you with something you can not defend against. Wave twenty-seven was only won because of my batteries of black mages, but wave twenty-eight is resistant to magic! So, not only are my black mages useless, but so are my time mages. GFG, SE, GFG.

[Tickmeoff]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

yes it is and I wish they'd put it on PSN. 2 was very weird ><;

Fuck, I tried PE2 and now I am not sure I even want to finish it. The first game was a brilliant combination of Resident Evil + the ATB system, but PE2 is just straight up RE clone.

I'm going to try and give it a chance but damn am I tired of this happening. How do you make an awesome game and then fuck up the sequel so badly? We need to get the developers of Devil May Cry 2, Xenosaga 2, Parasite Eve 2 and Baten Kaitos 2 in a conference room together and have them discuss how to not completely fail at life.