What games are you currently playing?

[Firewind]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

If you want the traditional turn based style of fighting for FFVII go into Config and switch the ATB to "Wait". It them pauses all timers when turns come up. Though it doesn't stop Barrier/MBarrier and Regen timers IIRC which can lead to a lot of exploitation by spamming summons while regen is up. I know that definitely worked in FFIX but I can't remember if that happened in FFVII or not.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Picked up Zelda Spirit Tracks and Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes.

Both are pretty fucking awesome so far. Spirit Tracks has a lot of refinements which make it a smoother experience than Phantom Hourglass. The flow of the game is similar to PH, but this time you don't have to retread through that one dungeon you have to keep coming back to, instead its sectioned off so once you complete part of the tower, you're done and when you come back later, you can pass by that section of the dungeon completely.

Zelda is your sidekick this time, too. Also kidnapped. The difference this time is that she's been separated from her body and assists you in spirit form. She can possess enemies and such to aid you. The flute mechanic in older installments is also back, but you will have to blow into the mic and slide the touch screen to play it, heh.

Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes is really something different than you'd expect from that name. Its made by the guys who brought you Critter Crunch on PSN and it could be called a strategy RPG, but I'd say it was just as much a match three puzzler, which is what makes it rather interesting. I'm only a little ways in, but if you have a DS and don't have this game soon, I think there should be a law against that.

[Malacite]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes is really something different than you'd expect from that name. Its made by the guys who brought you Critter Crunch on PSN and it could be called a strategy RPG, but I'd say it was just as much a match three puzzler, which is what makes it rather interesting. I'm only a little ways in, but if you have a DS and don't have this game soon, I think there should be a law against that.

I've always loved HoM&M, don't really know anything about this new one though.

[Armando]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Though it doesn't stop Barrier/MBarrier and Regen timers IIRC which can lead to a lot of exploitation by spamming summons while regen is up. I know that definitely worked in FFIX but I can't remember if that happened in FFVII or not.

If you really wanted to "take advantage" of Regen, back in the old days all you had to do was open the disk tray and PRESTO. All action stops, Regen keeps going.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

I've always loved HoM&M, don't really know anything about this new one though.

I don't really consider this a real Might and Magic game, I think Ubi Soft (who has the rights now) just wanted a familiar name and theme to market it with. The real draw here isthat Capymade the game, though. If they want to revive interest in the franchise, though, this title will at least get the name out there should it succeed.

The graphics are 16-bit sprites, the art style does pander to anime fans and the music and story are good enough (though the story is pretty much every western RPG cliche you can think of), but its really just how it plays that's so amazing.

There are a lot of puzzle elements intertwined into the combat. Match three units of the same color horizontally to build a wall, match them vertically to start charging up attacks. Match another set of the same color to get an extra turn to prepare. Match two sets of similar color to build that wall stronger, faster. Stuff like that.

[Lmnop]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

I never tried world 5. Dak's assessment makes me cringe. The high parts of 3-2 were giving me a heart attack.

I like the game being demanding; I don't think other games should "learn from its example" and start cutting checkpoints.

I think you are overestimating the length of each area if you believe the game should have checkpoints. When you become more familiar with each stage you will realize they can all be done in a few minutes with a proper weapon.

Alright, maybe not world 3 since you have to run around collecting keys and opening shit, but the others are all surprisingly short once you know where to go. World 4 in particular has incredibly short levels, but they compensate with enemies that are pretty difficult to deal with if you aren't prepared.

Pretty much every area also has a shortcut you can open later in the level that more or less functions as a checkpoint. 1-1 has the two tower gates at the beginning of the level that you can open up once you make it to the towers legitimately (both actually take you to the places you mentioned, near Ostrava and near the dragon's nest), 2-1 has the elevator just behind the merchant at the start of the level, 3-1 is considerably shorter once you've found all the keys and disabled the huge machine of arrow related death, 4-1 you can just roll right over a wall at the beginning of the level almost directly to the first boss, etc. Not quite checkpoints, but they did give you ways to avoid running through the entirety of a level every time you die.

Oh sure, now that I have some levels on me, I can go back and run the path of 1-1 in about 10 minutes completely unarmed (which is actually quite fun!), punching my way through. This is because I no longer worry about most of the mobs. My first time through, I kept dying at the dragon. I thought the narrow path I was supposed to go on was coded to be "walled off" by dragon breaths until the dragons were killed. How was I to know my templar knight couldn't kill the dragon yet? So of course, I keep wandering over to where they're nesting and see if I can find some avenue of attack (and collect the shinies!). And as I keep dying and "learning" what not to do, I'm having to run all the way there again. This is seriously just before the switch to open the 2nd path. But does a new player know that? I can be totally bad-ass at this game on my first play through and I'm still getting punished because I'm not psychic. This is like the Emotional Wife game (sorry ladies, I had to say it). Not to mention, the Cling Ring path isn't significantly faster (as it requires my fighting a horde of dreglings at base combat levels). All told: I was right at the end of the stage but a starting character can only do the stage so fast.

Incidentally, world 4 held an incredibly frustrating "funny" moment for me. I bee-lined my Wanderer there for a quick fragrant ring*. Those Silver Skeletons, directly after 1-1, are not a good idea. I died to the boss, but humorously, I did as well against him as I did every single normal mob in the stage. This is to say: 50/50 chance of survival.

*Something else I never touched on: this game seems to really draw on the same people who enjoyed Diablo 2 highest difficulty cow level crap with uber set gear and overpowered rune words. Fuck random drops and the path to the high levels,your characters only seem to come together on new game+. Had I not been using the English wiki throughout, my wanderer would've been completely disinteresting for most of the game.

[DakAttack]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

I refuse to do 4-1's boss, Adjudicator, alone. I've done it before, and it involves well timed rolls and a good bow, but I can't stand that guy. He'll randomly attack with his tongue, sometimes in quick succession and sometimes not, but there's no place he can't reach with it. If you're fighting alone, it's just so easy for the game to decide it's time for you to die and throw two consecutive tongue whips at you. It doesn't matter if you block the first with your shield, if there's a second one you're dead.

Anyways, the game is mostly pretty easy once you've learned all the tricks. Few enemies require brute force.

Speaking of 3-2, you can kill the first Maneater by firing arrows through the very sides of the fog before entering. Your arrows wont reach for full damage, but you can take him down with the partial damage as it falls. The second Maneater can still be a problem, though, so use the brazier in the middle to block magic attacks and draw him down from the side by standing on the straight paths to the middle. As long as you don't have your back to the edge you should be fine.

[Malacite]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

So the demo for Dante's Inferno is out now on PSN, gonna download it and give it a whirl later.

Just finished reading Joystiq's review of SH: Shattered Memories and I'm a disappointed in several ways, though I'm still planning on renting it to at least try it out. To sum it up, the game has little if anything to do with Silent Hill at all save for them reusing the same character names and thus really should have just been an original IP altogether. That, and I really can't get behind the notion of always having to run away from monsters (there is no combat whatsoever in the game, either you run or you die)

[Tickmeoff]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

I refuse to do 4-1's boss, Adjudicator, alone. I've done it before, and it involves well timed rolls and a good bow, but I can't stand that guy. He'll randomly attack with his tongue, sometimes in quick succession and sometimes not, but there's no place he can't reach with it. If you're fighting alone, it's just so easy for the game to decide it's time for you to die and throw two consecutive tongue whips at you. It doesn't matter if you block the first with your shield, if there's a second one you're dead.

Anyways, the game is mostly pretty easy once you've learned all the tricks. Few enemies require brute force.

Speaking of 3-2, you can kill the first Maneater by firing arrows through the very sides of the fog before entering. Your arrows wont reach for full damage, but you can take him down with the partial damage as it falls. The second Maneater can still be a problem, though, so use the brazier in the middle to block magic attacks and draw him down from the side by standing on the straight paths to the middle. As long as you don't have your back to the edge you should be fine.

W... wat.

I've never tried killing Adjudicator with ranged weapons so maybe he is significantly harder that way, but I have always considered him a joke boss. He has one slow and easy to dodge melee attack and even with just the crescent falchion +1 you find at the beginning of 4-1 he can be killed in 2 or 3 knockdowns.

[Lmnop]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Apparently he's very hard for ranged attackers and a joke in melee. I had some difficulty in melee, actually. But then, he kept getting caught on a wall so the only way to smack him was to put myself in a position where I couldn't dodge.

I actually died to the even easier optional boss: vanguard.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Previously, my plans for video gaming were going to include a mix of FFXI, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and maybe a few other games. But after checking List of Virtual Console games (North America) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and seeing this:

Super Mario Kart | Nintendo | Nintendo | November 23, 2009 | E

. . . that's pretty much going to be it for a while.

[DakAttack]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Apparently he's very hard for ranged attackers and a joke in melee. I had some difficulty in melee, actually. But then, he kept getting caught on a wall so the only way to smack him was to put myself in a position where I couldn't dodge.

I actually died to the even easier optional boss: vanguard.

Yea, Vanguard doesn't even move. If you want joke bosses, all of world five has joke bosses. The first two can be sniped from where you enter through the fog. The third can be sniped with a little legwork, but all three positions are completely safe from danger.

And, I just took down Adjudicator through his weak point on his stomach. For some reason I had him leaning up against a wall, which allowed me to attack his wound while making him unable to hit me with his swing. Yep, pretty easy.

I completely pwnergized some n00b earlier who b0rke into my g4m3. I let him cast a few spells, walked into a firestorm completely on purpose, and then popped the anti-magic field. I stabbed him down to half health, and then I think he had a heart attack and died, because he sort of fell over right before I could get the finishing blow in. Most people I kill don't have any souls, but this d-bag had 90k. Noice.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

I beat Sephiroth in KH II, I'd check what criteria I have left to complete to finish the rest of the Underdome battles, but I kinda have the feeling after maxing out all my forms, getting Ultima and Fenrir and level 99 that the game has nothing left to offer me on Proud mode.

Time to move back to Person 4's expert mode.

[Malacite]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

If you really wanted to "take advantage" of Regen, back in the old days all you had to do was open the disk tray and PRESTO. All action stops, Regen keeps going.

Or cast haste. Haste + Regen in FF7 = who needs cure?


But then FF7 also allowed you to set up a literally unkillable character so yeah...



Phoenix + Final Attack, Knights of the Round + MP-Absorb, HP>MP Switch, Ribbon etc...

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Here's another reivew of Silent Hill Shattered Memories, apparently by someone that actually played it and saw the new things Climax was going for rather than please series purists.

Destructoid - Review: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (Wii)