So What Are YOU Playing?

[Deader2818]

Picked up Xenoblade and man, im digging it so far. Battle system is fun, quests don't feel like a pain in the ass, story is pretty good, not bad over all.

[Brill Weave]

Three of us sat in my buddy's basement yesterday with three flatscreens, 3 PS3's, and 3 copies of Blops. It was glorious.

[Julian]

So if I were to play xenoblade, i'd want to upscale it on dolphin emu, rather than playing it on my wii?

Meh :/ well, at least it doesn't require me to hook up my wii

[Doombear]

Playing ridiculous amounts of Monster Hunter Freedom Unite on my Vita. Up to about 25 hours so far, after playing the shit out of it on my PSP. Last night I spent about 2 hours figuring out how to load custom quests (Mini Gravious, Elder Dragon Marathon in the Arena, JUMP Teostra 2G quest converted to MHFU, etc.) on my PSP. Now I can just co-op via Adhoc Party to get Jolly Roger set on my Vita. At the end of the two hours I felt ridicously nerdy... and proud. I am trying Lance and HBG this time. I have always used Hammer, LS, or Bow in the past. Eff you Tigrex.

[Kiehl]

Playing Titan Quest Immortal Throne yet again. Always seem to make it to the 3rd play through and get pissed about never being able to complete the good sets. Usually end up hacking it for the set and then ruining it for my other friends. Have to make this time last til D3 though.

[Ayn]

Playing Catherine.

Fuck this game.

Can't stop playing though.

[Kaisha]

Any general P3:FES advice?

Played a couple hours last night, and I'm kinda lost as far as building s.links go, how I should be wasting my time in the social side of things, whether I should go to the Tartarus ever night, whether I should fight everything I come across early on before fatigue sets in, conservation/usage of yen/items etc...

My first Persona/SMT game, so I'm not familiar with what kind of playstyle it demands to not get your ass whooped.

Also, wtf, that battle theme...

Actually, the OST in general. Gives me a sorta TWEWY vibe with the mix of hiphop and smooth.......whatever that genre is called when you running about. House?


Game looks nice on the PS3, although I wish the software emulator Sony used for PS2 Classics didn't have the PS3 reboot itself directly into it. No ingame-XMB (which was the case with BC PS2s) but worse for me, is it uses its own save format, incompatible with the PSX/PS2 mem. card manager the PS3 already has built-in, which baffles me. Perhaps they feel their emulator is too unstable (I already had it fail to save twice now in my short playtime) and people would try to use malformed PS2 saves as a means of exploiting the software while its in this weird booted-up state? Who knows...

[Julian]

It's really hard to max every SLink, and you probably wont be able to do it without a guide.

And following a guide involves basically doing exactly what it says, like "hang out with x in the day, go to tartarus this night" "hang out with y, study at night" etc

Just, play it however you want. You shouldn't have to go to Tartarus more than a few times a month. Just make sure you reach the end of that section before the month is up. Build social links with the characters you like. If you're smart about it, like, don't waste too much time (so if there's a link that's available every day, maybe save it for rainy days when most people are unavailable, or for some random days of the week where people aren't available, stuff like that) you should be able to max most links, and you'll probably have one or two halfway done or so.

FYI, this game is only really similar to Persona 4, as far as calendar/socialinks go.

[Yuri-G]

reached chapter two of FFX-2 and somehow I'm .2 percentage points off. I thought I followed the guide exactly, but I guess I missed something. fuck this game, I'm done lol

[Kiarax]

Just play it normally and youtube the secret ending. That game is a fucking nightmare to 100%, can't even skip cutscenes uggggggh.

[Yuri-G]

yeah I might do that. listening to all that dialogue was killing me, lol. and Maachen is the worst, if you remember him - I literally went and took a shower and got ready for work, and when I was done he was still talking.

[Yuri-G]

Any general P3:FES advice?

Played a couple hours last night, and I'm kinda lost as far as building s.links go, how I should be wasting my time in the social side of things, whether I should go to the Tartarus ever night, whether I should fight everything I come across early on before fatigue sets in, conservation/usage of yen/items etc...

My first Persona/SMT game, so I'm not familiar with what kind of playstyle it demands to not get your ass whooped.

Also, wtf, that battle theme...

Actually, the OST in general. Gives me a sorta TWEWY vibe with the mix of hiphop and smooth.......whatever that genre is called when you running about. House?


Game looks nice on the PS3, although I wish the software emulator Sony used for PS2 Classics didn't have the PS3 reboot itself directly into it. No ingame-XMB (which was the case with BC PS2s) but worse for me, is it uses its own save format, incompatible with the PSX/PS2 mem. card manager the PS3 already has built-in, which baffles me. Perhaps they feel their emulator is too unstable (I already had it fail to save twice now in my short playtime) and people would try to use malformed PS2 saves as a means of exploiting the software while its in this weird booted-up state? Who knows...

to add to what Julian said, here is a basic priority order for your actions. follow this order and while you may not max all s-links, you'll avoid burning too much free time with nothing to do (first time I played the game my whole last month and a half was just sleeping >_>)

1) s-links, ranked in order of how often you can do them (the less often, the higher their priority). pretty much ALWAYS choose to spend time with an s-link if you have the option that day.
2) stat-boosting arcade games. there are three: one for intelligence, one for charm, one for courage. these are expensive, but VERY helpful toward boosting stats early on (and thus making certain s-links available early on as well).
3) tartarus/other stat boosters like studying or coffee/whatever. if you have nothing else to do, these are your best options.

yes, the arcade is expensive. but the stat boosts are worth it. if you get lucky with bonus floors in tartarus it's no problem; if you don't... well, uh, just get lucky.

as for the random stat boosters, I would favor studying over the other ones for the most part. academics is twice as hard to raise as courage and charm.

also, NEVER EVER turn down a sunday meet-up. that is a surefire way to piss off an s-link. yes, that means you will miss out on Tanaka's shop fairly often - trust me, it's worth it.

I don't mean to downplay tartarus. grinding is important. but two-three times per month should be enough, unless you are struggling. you definitely don't need to go there every night.

[Jeherrit]

Passing up sunday dates doesn't actually piss off your s-links (only double-booking) but they give a lot of points which can be very usefull. You really should not be hurting for money after the first couple trips to tartarus. If you need cash you can always just scour treasure chests on lower floors since shadows run away if your leve is far enough above them.

Also if you start going out with one of the girls, put extra priority on maxing out her s-link. Every other girl you spend time with between that point and max gives a large hit to your reverse counter for the girl you're in a relationship with.

[Yuri-G]

thanks for the corrections. I most recently played P3P, which is far more forgiving than FES. team members don't get tired until after the Dark Hour, you can pay to restore SP in Tartarus, and girls no longer get pissed off at you for two-timing them. those three changes have a huge effect on the balance (for the better imo).

[Kaisha]

I'll keep those in mind. I'm getting to the point where I'm going to draw a map of the school as I keep getting lost if I try to find any location other than the two large hallways. ;/

Also hope to get my levels up so my party doesn't get tired after a measly 5 floors. Got to block 6 after barely surviving the block 5 boss(?), then had to get out of there due to 2/3rd of the party getting tired. Good times!

So arcade when I got the cash, study when possible, s.links whenever I can. What about the clubs? Worth it at all? FES doesn't really emphasize the importance or meaning of your skills or what needs what to improve. Apparently they addressed that in P4, possibly P3P. Just wish I could make more Tartarus trips a month, I'm enjoying that more than the social stuff currently, but that might be due to Tart being straight forward (farm + climb) where-as I have to worry about min-maxing my time on the social side.

What's the deal with my guy always wanting to doze off in class anyways? I always opt not to.

On the X-2 subject, I could have swore it had a cutscene skip function, unless that was only for animated scenes?

[Gokulo]

On the X-2 subject, I could have swore it had a cutscene skip function, unless that was only for animated scenes?

It does, but you can't skip some stuff or you will not get 100%.

[Jeherrit]

Joining clubs is required for various s-links (which sport or culture club you choose doesnt matter just that you join one of each). Fatigue is based on your level, for efficiency you're best off running away from battles (running doesnt count towards fatigue and running is guaranteed success if you have player advantage) and climbing as high as possible then focusing on the enemies that give the most xp, winning each battle with an attack by your MC or an all out attack to force the card minigame then grabbing an xp card whenever possible.

Sleeping in class improves your condition while staying awake increases your knowledge. Also if you get sick go to the school doctor and choose to drink the medicine he gives you. It doesn't cure you but it increses your courage a fair bit.

[Yuri-G]

oh yeah, definitely try to win every battle with the MC or an all-out-attack. that'll help a lot with grinding. getting a wands card on a red enemy = mega XP.

I generally avoid enemies until I've reached the top floor, then grind at my leisure. just sucks that you get tired so easily, but there's nothing you can do about it (except play P3P lol)

[Doombard]

Wishing I could play D3 beta....

[Yuri-G]

dear level 5 in Icarus: Uprising,

FUCK. YOU.

sincerely,
yuri-g