What games are you currently playing?

[DakAttack]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

I'm pretty much going through the game with a Crushing Claymore and the Dragon Long Sword, as they seem to be able to take out pretty much anything. The only time I really use anything else is for PvP (still haven't found a decent weapon combo) or skeletons (Great Club two shots most of them, even Black and Gold ones). Since this game has a similar weapon type system to FFXI though, sometimes it is better to use spears on things while clubbing other monsters.

And btw, you can back stab with bigger weapons. It's fairly brutal looking to backstab something with a great club.

I heard that the parry and riposte with a single-handed club is pretty brutal as well. I think it's supposed to be a unique animation, but nobody ever uses them.

Now that I'm on my second play-through, I'm investing in Faith and spending all my special demon's souls on miracles. I'm really only attempting to get the trophies, but this does open up room for me to effectively use the Istarelle. It's flexible for both PvE and PvP due to it's added resistances to poison and plague, and it scales well with Faith and Dexterity. Other than that, I'd probably continue using my Quality Knight Sword +5 because it scales extremely well.

My latest excursion into the two-handed world involved using the Demonbrandt on Flamelurker, and it worked extremely well. Flamelurker is very vulnerable to magic attacks, and, due to his deadly attacks being only close range, you have an extreme advantage being a mage. The added magic attack on the Demonbrandt really evens the playing field. I was taking huge chunks out of his health.

I wasted all my colorless demon's souls on the Penetrator. I thought it would scale well, with increased base damage and a Dexterity rating up to an S, but no. Damage stays at 90, and Dexterity increases to A. What a waste. The bonus damage to piercing is negligible as well, because it just doesn't have the other stats to back it up.

[Malacite]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

What you mean by "piss poor" would be that she doesn't get the "happily ever after" you were wanting to see.

What planet are you on? I've never, ever said I wanted that. To the contrary, it was my hope that for just once the protagonist would actually follow through for once on their own negative emotions. In this case, Ashe's lust for vengeance for the lost of her Husband & Kingdom. Instead she chickens out and decides to be the stereotypical hero as per the status quo.

I like having a gritty ending now and then.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

What planet are you on? I've never, ever said I wanted that. To the contrary, it was my hope that for just once the protagonist would actually follow through for once on their own negative emotions. In this case, Ashe's lust for vengeance for the lost of her Husband & Kingdom. Instead she chickens out and decides to be the stereotypical hero as per the status quo.

I like having a gritty ending now and then.

So you missed that part where she did avenge her husband and kingdom? The struggle with Ashe was the lust for power, to use the nethicite to destroy her enemies. Vaan saw Reks in the Nethicite, she saw her husband. The nethicite was a tool of manipulation. She didn't particularly succeed in overcoming the temptation on her own, Reddas had to do the job of destroying it so she would not use it. Vaan giving up revenge was important for her to see, but she was still hesitating even after that. So Reddas did the deed instead.

Nethicite or no, they were going after Vayne anyway. You know, what with him out to destroy Rabanastre and all. His actions were over the top and evil, but his motives to destroy the Occurians. Not entirely misguided tere, his failing was the same as Cid - he was in the thrall of Venat. In the end he just enabled a different party to the same ends, thinking he would break the cycle when he never could.

Vaan and company broke the cycle, but as for who saved the day? All assumed dead, covered up or obscured from the face of history. Vaan, Basch, Balthier, Fran and Penelo are not celebrated, not one even knows what they did to save Rabanastre. Basch goes down in history a villain and lives under a mask, Balthier and Fran are assumed dead for most of the ending, Ashe is separated from her friends due to her status as a Queen, her only real contacts remain Larsa and "Gabranth."

Our happy ending is mostly a cover-up - no main series Final Fantasy ever did that before.

And when what happens in Revenent Wings happens, the stage for FFT is fully prepared. FFXII itself gave us the backstory on the demigods the occurians enslaved to the Dynast King. Yeah, those demigods/espers are the Lucav that pop back up in FFT when there are no "gods" to hold them back.

But hey, these are all just the details. What do I know? Totally normal for RPG heroes to do a big cover-up, take on the life of a dead brother, return to being petty thieves and lying to the people they rule over.

If anything, FFXII goes against the grain in a lot of ways you're just not willing to admit.

[Tickmeoff]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

I heard that the parry and riposte with a single-handed club is pretty brutal as well. I think it's supposed to be a unique animation, but nobody ever uses them.

Now that I'm on my second play-through, I'm investing in Faith and spending all my special demon's souls on miracles. I'm really only attempting to get the trophies, but this does open up room for me to effectively use the Istarelle. It's flexible for both PvE and PvP due to it's added resistances to poison and plague, and it scales well with Faith and Dexterity. Other than that, I'd probably continue using my Quality Knight Sword +5 because it scales extremely well.

My latest excursion into the two-handed world involved using the Demonbrandt on Flamelurker, and it worked extremely well. Flamelurker is very vulnerable to magic attacks, and, due to his deadly attacks being only close range, you have an extreme advantage being a mage. The added magic attack on the Demonbrandt really evens the playing field. I was taking huge chunks out of his health.

I wasted all my colorless demon's souls on the Penetrator. I thought it would scale well, with increased base damage and a Dexterity rating up to an S, but no. Damage stays at 90, and Dexterity increases to A. What a waste. The bonus damage to piercing is negligible as well, because it just doesn't have the other stats to back it up.

The character I used to get most of the trophies was a Faith build using Blessed Mirdan Hammer +5 and Large Sword of Moonlight +5. Mirdan Hammer is almost broken for pvp, it has the farthest attack range of any weapon in the game, has a sweet spot at the tip of that range that does more damage, and it does blunt damage so it breaks most guards in a few hits if they dare to try and block it. Blessed +5 also adds hp regen that stacks with other equips so with the right set up and the regen miracle you can regen a good 20-25 hp/second. Add to that the Large Sword of Moonlight, a weapon that does 100% magic damage and cannot be blocked at all and you get a pretty beastly pvp build.


I ended up leveling past the pvp hot spot unfortunately, but I created a new character and went with a Luck build for Blueblood Sword and I have enjoyed it quite a bit. It swings like a Long Sword or Knight's Sword but it hits harder than a Meat Cleaver.

[Balfree]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Mini Ninjas!

[DakAttack]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

The character I used to get most of the trophies was a Faith build using Blessed Mirdan Hammer +5 and Large Sword of Moonlight +5. Mirdan Hammer is almost broken for pvp, it has the farthest attack range of any weapon in the game, has a sweet spot at the tip of that range that does more damage, and it does blunt damage so it breaks most guards in a few hits if they dare to try and block it. Blessed +5 also adds hp regen that stacks with other equips so with the right set up and the regen miracle you can regen a good 20-25 hp/second. Add to that the Large Sword of Moonlight, a weapon that does 100% magic damage and cannot be blocked at all and you get a pretty beastly pvp build.


I ended up leveling past the pvp hot spot unfortunately, but I created a new character and went with a Luck build for Blueblood Sword and I have enjoyed it quite a bit. It swings like a Long Sword or Knight's Sword but it hits harder than a Meat Cleaver.

I've heard a lot of good things about the Mirdan Hammer, and I've been on the wrong side of one as well. Maybe it was a mix of hammer and lag, but I was taking hits from a distance that looked very much safe. I've never put too much stock into HP regeneration, though, because there's never enough downtime for that trickle of HP to be meaningful. In both PvP and PvE it's only a few hits and you're dead, so I doubt that small amount of HP you regenerated over the last few seconds will help much.

[Empedocles]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Shadow Of The Colossus.

The only game to make me feel like I've done something wrong after killing a boss.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Still working on FFXII but getting seriously bored. I'm so overpowered that nothing is a challenge. I have a tendency to do that....I really need to learn to relax. lol

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Still working on FFXII but getting seriously bored. I'm so overpowered that nothing is a challenge. I have a tendency to do that....I really need to learn to relax. lol

Go do some hunts, get to Gilgamesh and then see how powerful you feel

I'm in the start of planning a serious RPG marathon.

This is in part to curb spending while saving up for PS3, FFXIII and such. Not allowing to buy anything but a meager PSN download here and there after Zelda: Spirit Tracks and Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes for the DS.

I'm working on RPGs I wanted to revisit, for now. Finished KH 358/2, Chain of Memories and refinished KH II all in the last few weeks. Contemplating a run through the original, but I don't feel that its really needed, I can go back and play that closer to the release of Birth By Sleep.

Now I'm completing my Expert run on Persona 4.

Out of what I have that hasn't been completed on an original run:

Etrian Odyssey and EO2
Crimson Gem Saga
Yggdra Union
Persona
Knights in the Nightmare
The Dark Spire
The World Ends with You
Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions
Final Fantasy Tactics A2
Final Fantasy III
Final Fantasy V
Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2
Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga and DDS2
Shiren the Wanderer: Mystery Dungeon
Pokemon Platinum
Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes
Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story.

Some need a fresh restart, but not Pokemon.

I also have unfinished business with:

FFXII - what I call a Perfection Run (do everything, basically, did a lot before, but I want my party tricked out next time)
Dragon Quest VIII - Gotta finish Dragoovian Trials for True ending, might just start over and replay though, I loved that one.
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne - True Demon run
SMT: Devil Survivor - Five other endings to do, all with different endgames.
FFIV DS - The Don't Fuck Up the Augments run.

Special cases - Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI

These two... its just been so long since they came out that I'm not sure if I really beat them or not. Forgive me in my old age, its been over 16 years since those came out and I was 15-16 years old when they were new. I'mma play em just to make sure. I can remember way Kefka and Frog are awesome, but that's about it.

Now, I doubt I'll get through all of this before FFXIII, but if I even got through a third of it, that would help my backlog considerably.

[Firewind]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

With Devil Survivor you want to do Amane and Yuzu's paths first. It allows you to fuse the vast majority of the fusion demons and i think the only ones left after that will be bonus ones you get during the pre-endgame storyline.

You also need to finish Amane and Yuzu's storyline to be able to fuse Metatron anyway who is very nice to have.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

I did Gin and Haru's path first, Metatron - overbearing Law enforcer that he is in SMT - wrote me a nice little threat for my neutral ending.

Most of my demons were well-built after the first run, so I guess I can consider going with Yuzu and Amane next.

Still think Yuzu is the flakiest female ever to grace an SMT-related title, though. I hear one of the endgames ends up being fighting all seven Bels on the same map, heh.

[Tickmeoff]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

I've heard a lot of good things about the Mirdan Hammer, and I've been on the wrong side of one as well. Maybe it was a mix of hammer and lag, but I was taking hits from a distance that looked very much safe. I've never put too much stock into HP regeneration, though, because there's never enough downtime for that trickle of HP to be meaningful. In both PvP and PvE it's only a few hits and you're dead, so I doubt that small amount of HP you regenerated over the last few seconds will help much.

Lag does some screwed up things in PvP. I've also been hit by a Mirdan Hammer from like 10 feet away and I've seen some ridiculous backstab shenanigans. Aside from the usual black phantom magneting from in front of me into a backstab I have had some people attempt to backstab me and miss, but on their side the game seems to think they didn't miss so they backstab air while I am standing a few feet away watching.

HP regen is really only useful if you stack it to the max. Adjudicator's Shield +5, Blessed weapon +5 and Regenerator's Ring gives you 18 hp regen just from gear alone and that's good for a few things. It lets you shrug off a lot of weaker attacks or some minimal damage that goes through your guard, it puts pressure on other players in PvP to play more aggressively and it lets you completely ignore poison and plague from almost any source (only the plague from the swamp with plague babies does more than 18 hp/second). Especially useful in 5-2 as even with black leather armor, poison resistance ring and Istarelle +5 you will get poisoned walking around in that swamp.


I never thought much of it until I played a Faith build for a while and then moved on to a new character. I was pretty much speed running 1-1 and taking hits without concern until I died and realized I wasn't regenerating HP any more so I couldn't just ignore half the level.

[Malacite]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

BBQ... do you have a 360?

If so, the Last Remnant is a very long RPG (I managed to snag a brand new copy for $19.99) with the main story itself estimated at around 80 hours + all the side content. Not sure if it's style is really your thing so you may just want to rent it but it's worth a go.

Not the most epic game ever but it was a good experiment on SE's part and I hope they apply what they've learned and improve on it in a future title.

[DakAttack]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Lag does some screwed up things in PvP. I've also been hit by a Mirdan Hammer from like 10 feet away and I've seen some ridiculous backstab shenanigans. Aside from the usual black phantom magneting from in front of me into a backstab I have had some people attempt to backstab me and miss, but on their side the game seems to think they didn't miss so they backstab air while I am standing a few feet away watching.

HP regen is really only useful if you stack it to the max. Adjudicator's Shield +5, Blessed weapon +5 and Regenerator's Ring gives you 18 hp regen just from gear alone and that's good for a few things. It lets you shrug off a lot of weaker attacks or some minimal damage that goes through your guard, it puts pressure on other players in PvP to play more aggressively and it lets you completely ignore poison and plague from almost any source (only the plague from the swamp with plague babies does more than 18 hp/second). Especially useful in 5-2 as even with black leather armor, poison resistance ring and Istarelle +5 you will get poisoned walking around in that swamp.


I never thought much of it until I played a Faith build for a while and then moved on to a new character. I was pretty much speed running 1-1 and taking hits without concern until I died and realized I wasn't regenerating HP any more so I couldn't just ignore half the level.

For me, plague has always increased its damage every tick.

Right now, I'm a little disappointed with my Istarelle. I'm finding that pretty much everything but the Flamelurker is weak to physical attacks, whereas only half is weak to magical. Plus, the Istarelle doesn't scale as well as you'd think, with it having an S rating and all. Definitely not as well as the Stick Compound Long Bow +5. The Sword of Moonlight starts out with the very same S in faith that the Istarelle has at +5. I think it'll make a pretty good PvP weapon.

Not surprisingly, quality still puts out awesome numbers.

Oh yea, Gyromancer is out and it's pretty fun. The difficulty is definitely a tad unfair. It seems like enemies randomly throw out ability gems, even though they either don't have that many abilities or they just threw them out five seconds ago.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

[quote=Malacite;864953]BBQ... do you have a 360?

If so, the Last Remnant is a very long RPG (I managed to snag a brand new copy for $19.99) with the main story itself estimated at around 80 hours + all the side content. Not sure if it's style is really your thing so you may just want to rent it but it's worth a go.

Only RPG on 360 I care to play is Lost Odyssey, everything else they've raped the dignity of for download content or the games have since gone to PS3 with extras. SE has shelved Lost Odyssey for PS3 release it seems, at least for the immediate future. Last Remnant is on Steam, so I can check it out on PC down the road.