So What Are YOU Playing?

[JimBob]

Picked up Baroque for the PS2 for very cheap, game is wtf weird but I'm liking the fact it throws you in the deep end without and tutorials and expects you to keep up, better than a lot of the hand-holding some games offer.
Also finally decided to try and kill Demifiend in SMT: DD1, the grinding is painful but it'll be worth it to finally take that bastard down.
Also doing a run-through of Shadows Hearts 1-3 because that never gets old.

[Atreides]

Finished Endless Ocean, still have about 30 fish and a handful of treasures left to find but I'm not really in the mood to spend a lot more time scouring the sea floor for almost no benefit, so I'll just play the sequel when I get the hankering for more ocean friends fun. Great game, definitely not for everyone though due to lack of 'gameness'.

After about 38 hours I'm nearly 100% done with Muramasa, which is really a fantastic game. 2 characters with 3 unlockable endings each, 3 difficulty modes (the hardest of which caps your character at 1HP!), 108 weapons and 56 accessories to collect, as well as numerous hidden bosses/challenges and plenty of reason to refight storyline bosses. There's a huge amount of content, the only complaint I have is that the action gets a little repetitive, although the rpg leveling and customization are generally enough to keep me from putting the controller down. Definitely the best 2D game I've played in a looooong time, hopefully they port it to other consoles so people without wiis can experience it.

I downloaded Endless Ocean 2 and as much as I'd like to play that next (or Escape from Bug Island despite how terrible it is, or the Wii port of Pikmin 2 because I never played it for gamecube), I'll probably hit up my PS2 next for some survival horror. Either Kuon or Fatal Frame 3, I can't really decide but I guess I'd be happy with either.

And I still have Deadly Premonition and The Saboteur to play for 360, eventually.

[Diamicles]

Lost Odyssey, finally.

[JimBob]

Apologies for the minor hijack, but is Etrian Odyssey for the DS any good? My gut says yes, but want to make sure that I'm not missing something (I.e. Lunar Eternal Blue being great, Lunar Dragon Song...... yeah).
Also, are there any other DS RPG/RPG-style games that are worth picking up?

[Kaisha]

I only played a couple hours of Etrian Odyssey 2, and it appeared to be pretty grind heavy.

What made it boring for me was lack of variety in the locations, and the battle mode's presentation being somewhat weak.
(I mean, seriously, first-person battle view with zero monster animation?)

I rarely used the map tools other than to make a note for a locked door as well as chests I already opened and that's about it.

[wiegraf]

plants vs. zombies, battlefield: bad company 2, and forza 3 (with hella tight 360 racing wheel)

[Yuri-G]

Etrian Odyssey is fantastic for what it is, but it's a very specific type of game. it's incredibly difficult and unless you know what you're doing, will end up being pretty grind-heavy (unless you explore every nook and cranny of the labyrinth and do all the missions, if you play it that way you probably won't need to grind much if at all). it's got a minimalist story, so if you're looking for an epic it's not going to work out for you.

but man, if you want an old-school dungeon crawler like Wizardry or Dungeons & Dragons, updated for the modern age with beautiful art design, a gorgeous (if limited) soundtrack, and endless amounts of little quests to do and secrets to discover, it's perfect. there is nothing I can think of recently that does the dungeon crawler better. and the battle system is great, it seems simple at first but once you start to develop your characters you realize there are a nearly infinite number of ways you can set up your party. half the fun is picking your characters and abilities carefully to create a party where each character fits in perfectly. it almost reminds me of FFT in that way... almost.

probably more than you needed to know, but I really liked the game. almost enough to get past the spring stratum >_>

[JimBob]

Etrian Odyssey is fantastic for what it is, but it's a very specific type of game. it's incredibly difficult and unless you know what you're doing, will end up being pretty grind-heavy (unless you explore every nook and cranny of the labyrinth and do all the missions, if you play it that way you probably won't need to grind much if at all). it's got a minimalist story, so if you're looking for an epic it's not going to work out for you.

but man, if you want an old-school dungeon crawler like Wizardry or Dungeons & Dragons, updated for the modern age with beautiful art design, a gorgeous (if limited) soundtrack, and endless amounts of little quests to do and secrets to discover, it's perfect. there is nothing I can think of recently that does the dungeon crawler better. and the battle system is great, it seems simple at first but once you start to develop your characters you realize there are a nearly infinite number of ways you can set up your party. half the fun is picking your characters and abilities carefully to create a party where each character fits in perfectly. it almost reminds me of FFT in that way... almost.

probably more than you needed to know, but I really liked the game. almost enough to get past the spring stratum >_>

To be honest, this was exactly what I was looking for, if it can get this kind of response then it's well worth a look. Thanks!
Anything else you can recommend?

[Yuri-G]

if you like those kind of games, anything Shin Megami Tensei is good - Persona series, SMT: Nocturne, Digital Devil Saga, and on the DS there's Strange Journey (which I haven't played yet but I hear is a lot like Etrian Odyssey, only with a better story)

and of course EO2, which is even better than EO in a lot of ways. and I've heard good things about Infinite Space, but haven't tried it out yet.

other than that, not much. dungeon crawlers are a dying genre, they don't hold most people's attention spans very well.

[Kaisha]

There's Dark Spire if you want hardcore dungeon crawling Wizardry-style, right down to punishing you to view the map if you decide not to map one out yourself. I couldn't get past the first floor due to someone always dying in my party and costing me all the gold I just farmed to get him revived. -.-

[JimBob]

if you like those kind of games, anything Shin Megami Tensei is good - Persona series, SMT: Nocturne, Digital Devil Saga, and on the DS there's Strange Journey (which I haven't played yet but I hear is a lot like Etrian Odyssey, only with a better story)

and of course EO2, which is even better than EO in a lot of ways. and I've heard good things about Infinite Space, but haven't tried it out yet.

other than that, not much. dungeon crawlers are a dying genre, they don't hold most people's attention spans very well.

Oh yeah, I've got all the SMT/Persona games on PS2, massive Atlus fanboy and proud of it
I've only recently got a DS, so I'll have to take a look at those and Dark Spire, thanks guys!

[Yuri-G]

oh yeah I was thinking of Dark Spire, couldn't remember the name. that one fights right in and got good reviews.

glad to help!

[Corrderio]

So I've been playing what I think is the only Blizzard series I've ever touched.

The Lost Vikings and The Lost Vikings II. Fun action/puzzle game, however frustrating when you get so far just to have one character die.

[KuroTsuki]

So, I've been playing Persona 3 FES. Awesome game. So far, I think I like it more than P4 (one of my favorite games in general.)

Anyways, I'm about a month and a half into the calendar (11 hours) and I still can't find a save point outside of Tartarus and the dorm lol. Anybody who's played P3 know if there's one?

[Caiyuo]

Played After Burner CLIMAX on XBLA for like 2 hours straight today despite an actual run through taking all of 15 minutes. So goddamn amazing.

[Kaisha]

Played After Burner CLIMAX on XBLA for like 2 hours straight today despite an actual run through taking all of 15 minutes. So goddamn amazing.

You manage to beat it yet on default settings? I almost always wipe right after the second mission with a bonus objective. -.-

I'm persistent in trying to get all the trophies/achievements without abuse of the EX modes. I swear someone on the publishing side of the game was thinking "Hey now, make EX modes unlock the trophies to so we can cater to the trophy whores and make more moneyz".

For those unaware of the game, shit like getting a 50-kill combo isn't easy, but you can unlock an EX mode (I forget the requirement, something like needing a cumulative total of 2000 combos across all your playthroughs) that makes the combo meter never time-out so you can rack up 300+ easily. Crap like that kills the challenge of the achievements. Perhaps I like a legitimate challenge though, which explains why I'm still trying to get Mr.Perfect on Mega Man 10 even though it's infuriating as all hell.

[Caiyuo]

You manage to beat it yet on default settings? I almost always wipe right after the second mission with a bonus objective. -.-

I'm persistent in trying to get all the trophies/achievements without abuse of the EX modes. I swear someone on the publishing side of the game was thinking "Hey now, make EX modes unlock the trophies to so we can cater to the trophy whores and make more moneyz".

For those unaware of the game, shit like getting a 50-kill combo isn't easy, but you can unlock an EX mode (I forget the requirement, something like needing a cumulative total of 2000 combos across all your playthroughs) that makes the combo meter never time-out so you can rack up 300+ easily. Crap like that kills the challenge of the achievements. Perhaps I like a legitimate challenge though, which explains why I'm still trying to get Mr.Perfect on Mega Man 10 even though it's infuriating as all hell.

I think when I beat it, I had the 5 credits EX on instead of the default 3. After that point the EX modes started rolling in with each successive clear and I was having a ball. Sure the challenge was fun initially and I got a feel for the base game, but I was way more involved in just fucking up everything imaginable by every little advantage they gave me lol I would say auto-gun and auto-missile are a little much, but free missiles and giant lock-on thing were more than welcome.

Not big on achievements in the least, personally; never understood the appeal.

[Caiyuo]

also now playing U.N. Squadron as a result of said game, even the throwback music they allow you to switch sounds exactly like it as well as a handful of the stages. Especially one cloud stage in particular where 5 or 7 planes of the same type jump up JUST LIKE THAT ONE STAGE, yeah yeah, incredibly vague but god, this game is so great.

[Corrderio]

So, I've been playing Persona 3 FES. Awesome game. So far, I think I like it more than P4 (one of my favorite games in general.)

Anyways, I'm about a month and a half into the calendar (11 hours) and I still can't find a save point outside of Tartarus and the dorm lol. Anybody who's played P3 know if there's one?

Pretty sure those are the only places you can save. P3 was fun but oh man did it get repetitive in Tartarus after awhile.

[Kyo]

Just finished up my Dead Space platinum, final playthrough did, Impossible mode with just the plasma cutter, really fun. Took 29 hours to platinum.

Next Ill be moving on to finishing up my God of War 3 platinum.