What games are you playing 2014?

[Clear Tranquil]

Tales of Vesperia- Picked this back up on the 360 while waiting for PS3 JP version to arrive. I must have been terrible at Tales games back then as I barely had over 1000 Grade on the old clear file and only one costume (Judith's Sultry Temptress), either that or I must have just blitzed through it for the story. Caught up on a lot of endgame stuff, getting the costumes, titles, etc that I could, also collected more artes, skills, altered artes, materials, equipment, etc. Wrapped it up with grinding for Grade for NG+, did some with the blah blah blah Rita method, some with Estelle with variety. and some with setting the AI to auto grind with Tidal Wave/Holy Rain/Tempest spam~ Finished off with 17'000~ Grade, now I'm just winding up with material farming and equipment synthesis. Things I apparently missed out on permanently on this file costumes of Yuri's except the theatre/play and spa ones, Raven's spoiler costume () ,  at least I finally got his Shining Star one though,  but then I also missed out on Vanji Lost/Stop Flow, Karol's Giganto quest costume, the post game dungeon, 200 man melees, probably other things I'm not thinking of or don't remember, or know. Things I'm saving for next time probably, Judith's title for clearing all five dragon races, and Into the Sky costume, and cooking things~

Finally managed to clear L3!, of that darn dragon race at least, which also meant I was able to clear the dog map too. Though no resolution with Little Wolf bugs me~

Been reading up on the PS3 version, seems kind of pointless to arbitrarily nerf things like Estelle's Eternal Support and Force Field permanent invincibility all battle hax and Raven's Stop Flow, when it adds skills like "Cannot die while in Overlimit!" , but I don't know, unless PS3 version also nerfs things like how fast characters like Rita fill Overlimit or something~

Also yaay Djinns~, glad you enjoyed Graces, and got something from the characters 

[Grefter]

On that thread of games I suppose I should say

Tales of Xillia - finished this and did Magnus Zero once, didn't bother going through a second time.

I am hesitant to call this the best Tales game in years since I have been saying that for most of them I have played since Abyss really.  Graces was good even with all the ffffffffffffffff involved. Vesperia is also still really really high in my esteem, I kind of want to replay it to see how it holds up, but that hate binge replay of ToS on PS3 isn't going to do itself and I have like 2 other Tales games sitting around unplayed as well.

For years Tales games mostly felt like they were a linear progression of improvement and I have been on board since ToP.  I still like SNES ToP is how much I am on board for this series.  So when I feel like they have slowed down a lot since Vesperia I don't mean that as a bad thing, but they do seem to not be making as much headway as they used to.  They don't push the envelope much, but they never have.  The series definitely is stagnant in some spots, but it is ones they always have.  It is mostly the plot, they refuse the same points in the same way over and over and reuse similar settings a lot, it loops back on itself in similar ways to Final Fantasy does without reinventing itself every time the way FF does.

That said they tune the combat system a little bit each time to keep the similar gameplay different for fans each time, so that is good if you like the series.  Unfortunately it means they aren't really going to chase a broader audience than what they already have (for good or ill).

So that is a lot of meta and not a lot about the game I guess' but that does say a lot of what I want to say about Xillia, it is really good Tales game, if you like them you have probably already played it and I am the last one that needs to tell you.  The character work is pretty good for the series, the only really bad character is a villain so you don't interact much.  The game is full of old random throwbacks that are just kind of there.  The game tracks side quests for you really well which is a nice change, but for the first time as well side quests honestly aren't that huge of a deal, your biggest rewards are from levelling up shops.

The shop system I at first wanted to praise and now that I am done want to praise significantly less.  It isn't so much a well designed system as it is a really highly functional one.  It is incredibly simple way of pacing shops by essentially tying them to your progress through the game with an experience meter, but still having shops universal and independent of the town you are in (which is great after having to fly to the fucking moon to go shopping in Graces).  So it is simple but it is really an inelegant way to solve that problem.  Kudos to them both identifying and addressing the problem, it is a good simple solution to it, but it doesn't feel particularly inspired.  I am not sure what I would do different, but hey, I can dream.

ToX, if you were going to play it you probably already have,so this is me telling you that you should have played it when you did.

[Fudozukushi]

I would take uninspired connivance over Graces and Xillia 2's absolute hell any time. 

[AndrewRogue]

I enjoyed Wheatly and found the shift in Glados a reasonably successful one (retreading the same territory would also have been dull). Old Ap. was fun narratively, but agonizing gameplay wise.

[Grefter]

Oh it certainly is good.  Functional is my second favourite kind of solution.  It just isn't flashy or interesting way to resolve a new problem.  They identified an old problem and fixed it with old solutions.  It definitely works and the game is significantly better for it.  They could have just gone "eh you can teleport most of the time, what the fuck ever" like they have in the past.

I do remember your rage against ToX2.  that may be a contributing factor to me wanting to hate play ToS instead of jumping to ToX2 next for my Tales binge.

[Fenrir]

Portal 2: Got up to Chapter 6? Writing has gotten a bit better.

I think the fact that the game is way goofier than Portal 1 was weird and I didn't anticipate it. I'm not a fan but it works.

Wheatley betrayal sounded dumb until I read some interesting things on the Internet about it because I just couldn't believe how dumb it was. Ok.


Freedom Wars:

Is some MH clone with pretty boring battles so far.


But:

It's a post apocalyptic world where resurces are scarce and countries fight each other for scraps.

You get amnesia at the beginning of the game and get sentenced to 1 000 000 years in prison (yes) for contributing nothing to society.

You can do missions for the Greater Good to lower your jail time. The goal of the game is reaching 0 and getting free. (Though it seems that there is an overarching plot where you get to destroy the system. Presumably by becoming an engineer and starting a new agricultural revolution? If it's possible, I'll try to be selfish, reach 0 jail time, and leave without saving the world)


Ok what's cool is that you have absolutely no freedom at the beginning of the game, and if you try to transgress any law you get additional jail time.
At the beginning of the game you can only move around in a super small cell. I did that, and immediately got a +10 additional jail time for walking 5 unproductive steps in my cell. Then I tried to sleep and got +20 jail time for lying down. (I was only allowed to sit if I wanted to sleep )
After a mission I eventually could buy these rights, and also could get out of my cell and explore the prison. One guy immediately talked to me, and I got +30 jail time for talking to a stranger and +50 jail time for getting near a prisoner of the opposite sex. ffffffffffffff

Total jail time is shown above the head of every prisoner. People with fewer years left see my score and treat me like trash. There are some people with like 3 million jail times who very obviously went totally crazy and just kept adding up jail time. And they're never getting out of there.
Some guy is planning an escape and I'm sure he's going to be crushed. Cameras are everywhere and everybody has a customizable personal android watching their every move and being jerks in general. (I made mine an UOM with a pompadour)

[Fudozukushi]

Oh it certainly is good.  Functional is my second favourite kind of solution.  It just isn't flashy or interesting way to resolve a new problem.  They identified an old problem and fixed it with old solutions.  It definitely works and the game is significantly better for it.  They could have just gone "eh you can teleport most of the time, what the fuck ever" like they have in the past.

I do remember your rage against ToX2.  that may be a contributing factor to me wanting to hate play ToS instead of jumping to ToX2 next for my Tales binge.

And I didn't even get into any of the worst rants I could have gone with either.  I was just so sick of the game's shit I didn't want to think about it anymore.

Like, by some coincidence I was playing again recently and remembering why I hated it.  I fought one of the bonus bosses - Snow Cougar EX - and it has an affect where it curls up and summons a bigass blizzard across the field to damage you.  To stop it you have to kill three adds, but literally—LITERALLY every time I tired to attack the adds, the damage affect would go off and stone my whole party.  And it's not like any dispel would have helped either, my whole party was hit each time and any status protection status lasts about half a second.  Accessories?  Complete pain in the ass to make.  If I wanted full stone protection I'd have needed to wait at least an hour to get enough materials to Custom Order the stone protection.  Relying on a 15 minute wait for a RANDOM CHANCE to get what you need is absurd.  And you need hundreds of the "rare" drops to start equipping yourself for the post-game hell.

I mean, hell, did I ever talk about the bonus boss who went into Overlimit and healed herself to full (she was at low thousands and healed herself back into the hundred thousands) without me being able to do a damn thing?  If I don't have Chromatus or a Mystic Arte of my own there was nothing to stop it.  Every extra boss is an outrageously fat stack of numbers that turns every fight into a complete asinine bore.  That Snow Cougar had an ATK score of 40,000!  It'd take me two PCs combining every stat they HAD to reach that!

[Niu]

Fudo, SPAM IFRIT II.
It a very effective way to kill a lot of the optional bosses.
Hell, Ifirit II is almost like the only thing I use in late game when controlling Milla, as it is simply so OP.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Dragon Age: Inquisition continues to be very good.  Besides two adventure zones that are close to each other on the map and I assume were originally going to be one place but for technical issues of some sort, each area is both large and open enough for truly satisfying exploration, and all of them are pretty distinct from each other visually and thematically.  The writing tends to be quite enjoyable, particularly in regards to my character being a Qunari and how people in Orlais and Ferelden react to that.

My character is also very eloquent and always knows the right thing to say.  When someone dies that thing tends to be "Well... shit."

Combat is still enjoyable, but I wish the AI was more customizable.  The replacement of healing spells with a limited number of potions, forcing you to rely on guard abilities and shield spells and such, makes going into dungeons an actual challenge where you may not have enough supplies to get to the end if you play poorly, necessitating you go back to base and start over.  Puts a lot of the onus on you to avoid large attacks and control the enemy rather than just face-tanking every single thing while you have everyone blow their best moves.

Still can't fuck the ghost, though.

[The Duck]

Still can't fuck the ghost, though.

I am tired of Bioware's pro SJW bullshit. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me thrice with no ghostboning? I'm done. They've clearly forgotten about the fans that built them up, the fans that truly mattered. Now they are slaves to social media and political correctness. I can't handle it anymore, the constant betrayal is just too much. I'm not going to take it anymore and neither should you.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

If you put a ghost into a game where you can fuck most of your companions, the audience is going to expect you to reenact the ghost blowjob scene from Ghostbusters.  That's a fucking fact of life.

[Grefter]

If there's something strange
in your neighborhood
Who ya gonna call?
GHOSTBONERS

If there's something weird
and it don't look good
Who ya gonna call?
GHOSTBONERS

I ain't afraid of no ghosts
I ain't afraid of no ghosts

If you're seeing things
running through your head
Who can ya call?
GHOSTBONERS

An invisible man
sleeping in your bed
Who ya gonna call?
GHOSTBONERS

I ain't afraid of no ghosts
I ain't afraid of no ghosts

Who ya gonna call?
GHOSTBONERS

If ya all alone
pick up the phone
and call
GHOSTBONERS

I ain't afraid of no ghosts
I here it likes the girls
I ain't afraid of no ghost
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah

Who ya gonna call?
GHOSTBONERS

If you've had a dose of a
freaky ghost baby
Ya better call
GHOSTBONERS

Lemme tell ya something
Bustin' makes me feel good!

I ain't afraid of no ghosts
I ain't afraid of no ghosts

Don't get caught alone no no

GHOSTBONERS

When it comes through your door
Unless you just want some more
I think you better call
GHOSTBONERS

Who ya gonna call?
GHOSTBONERS

Who ya gonna call?
GHOSTBONERS

I think you better call
GHOSTBONERS

Who ya gonna call?
GHOSTBONERS

I can't hear you
Who ya gonna call?
GHOSTBONERS

Louder
GHOSTBONERS

Who ya gonna call?
GHOSTBONERS

Who can ya call?
GHOSTBONERS

Who ya gonna call?
GHOSTBONERS



I started this as a joke with a find and replace, then parsing the text I felt the need to draw attention to specific verses.

It works you guys.  It totally works.

[The Duck]

Grefter, the new Ghostbusters movie supposedly has an all-female cast, so obviously Hollywood is pushing its pro-SJW agenda on us. Why do they have to be women? They're caving to the misguided SJW idea that women should have representation in film (they probably also think they should vote lol) and they're shoehorning them into a classic franchise that has no logical place for them. Also, everyone knows women can't be funny. They've clearly forgotten the fans that have gotten them there, so we should do our do diligence and boycott the movie and then die in abject solitude.

[Fudozukushi]

Fudo, SPAM IFRIT II.
It a very effective way to kill a lot of the optional bosses.
Hell, Ifirit II is almost like the only thing I use in late game when controlling Milla, as it is simply so OP.

Sure, why not.  This game doesn't deserve respect like Xillia 1 does.

[Grefter]

Noting that I am well aware of the irony of this after me just saying I want to hate replay ToS on PS3.

You could just like, not play it maybe?  You finished the game, it is post game bullshit.  Maybe it just isn't worth your time.  If it is because you literally have nothing else to play, hit me up in PM.  I can buy you a random fucking Steam game.  I have a few things in my inventory that I can give away even.  Nothing new, but shit that is a damn sight better than doing the optional end game garbage for a game that you think is a giant pile of shit.

[Fudozukushi]

Noting that I am well aware of the irony of this after me just saying I want to hate replay ToS on PS3.

You could just like, not play it maybe?  You finished the game, it is post game bullshit.  Maybe it just isn't worth your time.  If it is because you literally have nothing else to play, hit me up in PM.  I can buy you a random fucking Steam game.  I have a few things in my inventory that I can give away even.  Nothing new, but shit that is a damn sight better than doing the optional end game garbage for a game that you think is a giant pile of shit.

My time is fairly worthless and when I want to hate a game I want to do it from as complete a position as possible so I can laugh at people who try and call me out as never playing it.  I may hate the game but damn is it fun laughing at its shittiness, and I laugh at it far more than I play it.

Thanks for the offer, but I have plenty of games of mine own to go through.  Shadows of Mordor had a extra mode thrown in recently, I also grabbed Heart of the Swarm and can go get the Hard Mode Achievements for that.  Heck, I could even go finish getting Stat Topic Data for the original Xillia.

[Clear Tranquil]

Well at least petrify doesn't cause an instant game over anymore, I remember the entire party getting petrified by those plant things while going through Magnus Zero in the original Xillia ... yeeah~

[Fudozukushi]

Well at least petrify doesn't cause an instant game over anymore, I remember the entire party getting petrified by those plant things while going through Magnus Zero in the original Xillia ... yeeah~

I'm glad I heard about that in advance and always had a protector on Elize.

[Niu]

Noting that I am well aware of the irony of this after me just saying I want to hate replay ToS on PS3.

You could just like, not play it maybe?  You finished the game, it is post game bullshit.  Maybe it just isn't worth your time.  If it is because you literally have nothing else to play, hit me up in PM.  I can buy you a random fucking Steam game.  I have a few things in my inventory that I can give away even.  Nothing new, but shit that is a damn sight better than doing the optional end game garbage for a game that you think is a giant pile of shit.

My time is fairly worthless and when I want to hate a game I want to do it from as complete a position as possible so I can laugh at people who try and call me out as never playing it.  I may hate the game but damn is it fun laughing at its shittiness, and I laugh at it far more than I play it.

I can relate to that. I remember doing the same to the despicabelly bad ToD2.

[Shale]

NSMB2: 100% on worlds 1-5 and mushroom/flower, just need to clear out 6 and star. The game is very much a Lost Levels sort of paint-by-numbers sequel, but they've managed to wring enough new wrinkles out of the NSMB mold that it's fun to play. It's just not enough to get any real enthusiasm going. The coin-collecting gimmick also falls pretty much flat, which is a shame.

Infamous 2: I've got a PS3 again! As opposed to bumming one off Super, I mean. Picked up where I left off in this - namely, really early on. Currently tooling around after unlocking the first round of buyable powers. Running around the city lightning-ing fools is just as fun as it was in the first one, and I really like the new system of hot-swappable sidegrades for the main power types. Also, it's pretty as all get-out.

[Luther Lansfeld]

The problem is that the coin gimmick devalues coins! You get really excited about getting 100 coins in Mario 1 because holy shit an extra life but in this game you have so many extra lives they are running out of your ears.

[Shale]

I was expecting some kind of tangible reward for getting a whole bunch of coins beyond the usual extra life per 100, but all you get is a new title screen at a threshold that's so high the only way to get it is to grind the rainbow levels into dust - nobody's idea of fun. Unlockable Luigi/Toad/Peach, more toad houses, a Gold Flower every 5K coins or something would have given the whole exercise some purpose.

[Grefter]

So you are proposing a return to Gold Flower standard to keep the value of the Mushroom Kingdom dollar up?

[Shale]

GOOGLE RON SHROOM

[The Duck]

Just picked up a PS4 and Shadows of Mordor, which has been shockingly good. Since this is a game all about emergent systems, trying to convey individual stories I have had may be similar to telling someone your dreams, but I have felt like a much stronger sense of bloodlust against some of these stupid Orc captains than I have felt for like 90% of villains in storybased RPGs (. The higher level orcs have weird perks, like being immune to fire, being shot, or immune to being stealth killed (which is fine for balance but it's like being immune to stab wounds) and they also have fun weaknesses like shitting themselves when they see doggies and bees. I feel like if you got some of these dudes high enough level that they'd have a combination of traits that would make them virtually impossible to kill, but I'm not close to being there yet.

The game looks like it has a lot of things to do (mostly variants of murdering all orcs), and the open world actually doesn't look to be that big, so traversal from murder to murder never feels labored.

I let a dude level up by murdering me several times ("let") and now Tuka Hot Tongs thinks he's the shit until I crash his feast and rain bees on his parade.

Also the Warchiefs are introduced by a choir chanting their silly names like a terrible WWE entrance song. It's goofy.

Also this game probably craps all over the LotR lore but I don't care. This thing may as well not have a story as far as I'm concerned.