So What Are YOU Playing?

[Kaisha]

PS4 got a bit of use this week.

Blew through Trials Fusion and the currently available DLC, now I'm stuck trying to silver/gold the expert-level tracks while waiting on more.

Also picked up Infamous Second Son and ran through that in three sittings. Has to be the least memorable city of the three games in that series. It just all blurred together for me, hardly any notable landmarks or changes in environment outside of the DUP occupied sectors. Best powers in the series by far though.

Delsin's character model has to be by far one of the best I've seen in a game though. Probably worth the cost of the aggressive LoD when you get higher up off the ground.

[Hitoshura]

Holy shit this castle and this music.

[Petitssk]

Ah, Spain was creepy indeed. I think it was also the first place where you really had to grind to avoid being underleveled. That's the only gripe I can think of that I had with the game, actually; a few levels too high and you're a juggernaut, a few levels too low and you might as well not be there.

Or maybe I just never got the balance right.

[Lucavi]

Mount and Blade Warband. Still. Forever.

[Hitoshura]

Ah, Spain was creepy indeed. I think it was also the first place where you really had to grind to avoid being underleveled. That's the only gripe I can think of that I had with the game, actually; a few levels too high and you're a juggernaut, a few levels too low and you might as well not be there.

Or maybe I just never got the balance right.

I agree completely, not even going to lie I have been running in circles trying to figure it all out and leveled to 22, everything nearly dies in one shot... so going to avoid all enemies now and just figure out the rest of this behemoth castle. The whole Columbus story about the Queen and her 3 dead children is pretty insane. I am praying for a real boss fight, it feels like it's been a long while since the last one.

[Corrderio]

Ah, Spain was creepy indeed. I think it was also the first place where you really had to grind to avoid being underleveled. That's the only gripe I can think of that I had with the game, actually; a few levels too high and you're a juggernaut, a few levels too low and you might as well not be there.

Or maybe I just never got the balance right.

Isn't that the castle where you fight Bloody Mary? If so, yeah that got nasty for me.

[Petitssk]

I agree completely, not even going to lie I have been running in circles trying to figure it all out and leveled to 22, everything nearly dies in one shot... so going to avoid all enemies now and just figure out the rest of this behemoth castle. The whole Columbus story about the Queen and her 3 dead children is pretty insane. I am praying for a real boss fight, it feels like it's been a long while since the last one.

See above, the castle's boss is really hard. Awesome backstory, though, I agree.

Spoilering the next part, but it will be safe to read once you've faught at least once.

Spoiler: show

If I recall correctly, anything below level 25 is supposed to have an extremely hard time fighting her. I think the official guide (in Germany, they liked to exaggerate) said you had to be 25 to at least stand a chance, though she definitely is beatable even if you're not 25. Might take a few tries, though (not to mention, that mini boss right before her always gave me the creeps).

Which reminds me, do you know which choices you have to make for cities to expand? It's not required to progress through the story, but some towns can become stuck in the Middle Age if you make the wrong choices.

[Hitoshura]

No actually, I don't know the things you have to do or even knew you effected it, I thought once you were done with that part of the game, it would work itself out. Can't wait to fight Bloody Mary.

[darkepyon]

That castle theme is easily one of the best tracks in the game. That was the toughest boss in the game if I remember right. The max level in the game is 50, but that's overkill. The "juggernaut" comment definitely rings true. The absolute bare minimum level from start to finish is like 13 or 14 due to bosses and having to kill certain enemies to advance.

[Petitssk]

No actually, I don't know the things you have to do or even knew you effected it, I thought once you were done with that part of the game, it would work itself out. Can't wait to fight Bloody Mary.

Enjoy, she's fun!

Regarding the expansion of the cities, you'll probably want to read up on that before making any wrong choices. Some of them are obvious, but I wouldn't take risks if I were you.

Off the top of my head, some of the most important ones are:

Spoiler: show

In Loiré or what it was called, you can participate in the election of the new mayor. Jean and Louis (I think) will participate. Not sure about the names, so you need to vote the guy who does not have a past of drinking. Otherwise, the city will never expand at all.

In the next city you get to, there are people doing experiments in separate houses. All of them need to finish their inventions, so just make sure they stick to that. Help them find their girlfriends, don't let them drown their sorrows in alcohol, tell them to get to work.

In the other town on that continent (the one where you encounter Will), there's a guy who loves to cook. I don't know if you could prevent him from cooking, but just make sure he keeps cooking. I think that's about it, though I'm only certain about the election in Loire, not sure if you can completely prevent expansion in any of the other cities.

[Charismatic]

At the recommendation of a buddy, got my hands on a copy of a game called Eternal Eyes. Probably gonna start it up tomorrow. Anyone played it?

I was told I need to play Growlanser/Langrisser/Phantom Brave/Rondo of Swords/Eternal Eyes
They also recommended I give Fire Emblem another shot but I'm not going to do that one . :^)

But yeah, looks like I've been missing out on plenty of TRPG goodness and I'm gonna fix that!

Kinda skeptical of Phantom Brave though since I'm not really a huge fan of Disgaea.

[Hitoshura]

Front Mission 5 is the best of it's kind, but sadly I am probably the only one who will vouch for it because it only came out in Japan, but got a translation patch, playable on the PCSX2 emulator. Looks and plays damn good. It's heavily updated with functions to speed up battles making it, possibly one of the fastest and polished TRPG games I have ever seen, the customization level is mind blowing as well. I enjoyed the Fire Emblem remake on the GBA, that game was fantastic, the 3DS' Awakening is also probably the best in the series to date.

If you didn't like Disgaea you will probably hate Phantom Brave even more so, the story is god awful and even more unbearable. I can't believe about a decade ago when it came out some idiotic woman was going on about how Marona and the story line were so touching that it changed her life. The only thing that has changed drastically is, yep, you guessed it, the battles. No longer grid based, you get this giant circle of range instead and you get to roam about, opening a lot more options and freedom on the battlefield. It's nothing ground breaking but I personally thought it was an improvement and wish they had used it again.

[Elcura]

Isn't that the same battle system as Makai Kingdom? I liked that way more than Phantom Brave since well... ZETTA BEAM!

[Charismatic]

The only thing that has changed drastically is, yep, you guessed it, the battles. No longer grid based, you get this giant circle of range instead and you get to roam about, opening a lot more options and freedom on the battlefield. It's nothing ground breaking but I personally thought it was an improvement and wish they had used it again.

Fortunately, this is what I care the most about. Story stuff isn't that important to me so if the battles are enjoyable I'll have a good time with it.
I'll find out soon enough though.

[Hitoshura]

That's good then, the game play is definitely the only thing carrying Phantom Brave.

Edit: On a totally awesome note, swooped up Order of Ecclesia today, this already looks to be the most polished metroidvania style game yet, it's so fucking buttery smooth.

[darkepyon]

Yeah Ecclesia is great stuff for sure.

As for Front Mission, definitely a series that didn't get the lovin' it deserved over here. One game I particularly liked was Gun Hazard on the SNES/SFC. It was more of a run-and-gun style game as opposed to the turn-based strategic affairs for which the franchise is known. If you're familiar with Cybernator on the same system, it plays a lot like that.

[Charismatic]

Okay, I started up Eternal Eyes and I gotta say... the localization is awful, rofl. Legit bad, one of the sloppiest jobs I've seen in a long long time.


I don't expect much from the story or the translation of the story on this one but you get these magical dolls and so far they seem pretty neato. The control scheme is a bit wacky too (why is triangle the cancel button?) The battles might be enjoyable despite the control scheme being a little weird.

[Charismatic]

So... I'm gonna just have to return to that game later. Not too interested in it right now.
I did start up Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1.

Black Heart was HARD. JFC.

[darkepyon]

How are the Neptunia games anyway? I've seen very mixed opinions about them so far.

[Charismatic]

This is the first one I've ever played. Story and characters? Ehhhhhh.

The combat system in Re;Birth is pretty neat. I've heard that the original Neptunia 1 (this is supposed to be a remake of it, right?) had a pretty bad combat system though.
The game really over does it with the jokes/references and there's no subtlety to any of 'em. Basically, the only thing keeping me going is that the game's actual... 'gameplay' is unique and interesting.

Also the fact that if you don't grind a lot of these bosses seem to want to rip your face off, that's always fun. Seriously, the bosses in this game are a lot harder than I expected.
I kept reading that you'd need to grind to beat them but so far I've been doing okay by just playing normally except with Black Heart, I didn't grind but I did run back to town to regear because she kicked my ass so hard I knew no number of restarts would carry me through that without some major changes.