So What Are YOU Playing?

[Kiarax]

It took a little under 5 months for me to 100% Halo Wars, but I finally got the General achievement today. I'm up for a genre change for sure; I have Mass Effect, Tales of Vesperia, Lost Odyssey, Valkyria Chronicles, and Eternal Sonata still unplayed. Which is the most must-play? I know many people here have played through those by now.

I'd say Valkyria Chronicles personally. That, Mass Effect or Vesperia for sure, can't go wrong with any of them though really.

[Bweigelt]

I'd actually say leave Mass Effect till then end of those. It's awesomeness will ruin the rest of the games for you if you play it first.

I'd go Valkyria Chronicles, LO, Tales of Vesperia, Eternal Sonata and then Mass Effect personally.

[Roranora]

Cool, VC it is.. the PS3 could use a little love anyway.

And what was so brutal about Eternal Sonata's battle system? I know no game is for everyone, but that was a pretty disheartening bashing of ES.

[Palom]

Oh, sure. I'm sure some people enjoyed it. I just couldn't stand it, personally. Was basically a turn-based-but-you-have-to-make-decisions-right-this-second type of system (Imagine ATB system of FF7, but if you go to use an item from the menu and don't pick it in 4 seconds, the menu closes and goes to the next person). Really pissed me off wasting turns just getting into range of mobs, or pressing a button to get "that last hit" on one character, then it would switch characters and use that button I just pressed, thus wasting their turn while they swing away at air.

[Charismatic]

I can't say I've played ES but the battle system LOOKS like get into position... spam button until enemy turn then wait for timed hits and repeat.

Like I said, never played it but I've watched a few videos... it doesn't look that good.

[Roranora]

Ugh, fair enough; that does sound a bit annoying. Well, I'll get to it, but it's certainly getting bumped down the queue.

[Kaisha]

My main beef with Eternal Sonata was how impossible it was to get your character to turn around to block upcoming attacks after the mob's first strike rapes your party member.

It's a formulatic RPG at most. Story -> Long run w/ mobs -> Story -> Dungeon -> Story -> Run to next location with lots of mobs -> Story, etc etc. Linear at best. I'm just playing it for the great visuals and above-average soundtrack. The story at most is pretty basic (imo), and it gets tiring quick when the characters keep saying crap that is already obvious to the viewers.

I'm only 12 hours into it currently, but I play it on the side since I got no other RPGs for my PS3 yet, looking into getting Folklore whenever I can find it cheap. (not paying full price for a 2yo game)

In other news, I beat Dead Space, and am now actually *enjoying* the game on my second playthrough with all the weapons purchased. I made the mistake of going for the "One Gun" trophy on my first playthrough, which requires you to play through the entire game using only your beginning weapon, which, while powerful when fully upgraded, is boring to use at best. Going for the platinum on this puppy since it's actually doable, unlike most games I own that have those impossible-to-achieve online-multiplayer trophies.

[Atreides]

Eternal Sonata is decent, it's certainly a pretty game, and although formulaic it's entertaining enough for the short amount of time it lasts. To get all the items you have to play through the game twice, I suppose there is a fair amount of replay value/post-game content but I still have yet to force myself to do it-- but I'm not really sure if that's a function of the game being boring, or just my own impatience.

To be honest I thought Folklore was even more boring than Eternal Sonata, similarly the game makes you play through it twice but I was bored to tears after a certain point. Maybe I just never gave it enough of a chance, I liked the game but I kinda just forgot I had it and moved on to other things, lol. Also, for the price (like 10 bucks or less) you could conceivably get some enjoyment out of Enchanted Arms, it's certainly nothing special but it's an RPG and it's mildy entertaining.

I beat the Dragon's Den in Final Fantasy VI Advance this morning which then unlocked yet another bonus dungeon (as well as the Omega Weapon fight) but at that point I was really tired of the game so I just stopped playing and started up my save file of Final Fantasy IV DS, which I had left off right before Lunar Subterrane. Even though I'm level 68-70 I was still getting absolutely raped by Moonmaidens and Blue Dragons, who seem to get 15 fucking turns before I can get a single spell off, so all I end up doing is trying to keep everyone alive.

I don't get the point of Draw Attacks if at 70+ Cecil has 4k HP and normal mobs hit every 10 seconds for close to 1k, but anyway. After 3 attempts I managed to get to the 2nd save and then got promptly raped by a Zemus's Breath. I don't get how people speedrun this game when even overleveled and using debuffs/good tactics monsters can still get in 20 turns while you're waiting for regular attacks to go off. Setting the battle speed a bit lower helps a little, and I love how FF games give you the "Active" vs "Wait" option when monsters are going to just do whatever they fucking please anyway even if you have it set to Wait. Fucking dicks.

I was contemplating farming tails but I really don't want to run through this shit again until my 2nd/3rd playthrough but I doubt I'll even have the patience for it if I even get that far.

I should have just stuck with FF6 or moved on to something else ;/

[Atreides]

Also the fact that if you use Silver Apples/Soma Drops/Key item summons they won't carry over to a new game is retarded. This game was on track to being one of my favorites until they pulled all of this pseudo-hardcore bullshit out of fucking nowhere. I love a challenge as much as the next guy but if I wanted to jump through this many hoops I'd have stuck with disgaea for more than 20 hours.

Of course there's a 99% chance that I'll still finish the game anyway, but yeah...

[Brill Weave]

Since the 360 got RRoD, I've been playing a lot of WoW. When I haven't been playing it, I was rumbling on Pride FC for the PS2. Finally beat Survivor mode. Beat 25 guys straight. Last five were vicious. Royce Gracie, Renzo Gracie, Wanderlei Silva, Sakuraba, and Guy Mezger.

[Hitoshura]

Xenogears, at the start of Disc 2. You know I forgot how insanely redundant it is just reading a bunch of events that seem like filler, I mean it doesn't even seem real. I got Billy's Omnigear and beat the Elements and their power ranger tribute combo haha.

[Arnwulf]

Finally getting into Infinite Undiscovery, despite it's annoyances, hi2u linking to character x to get sidequest y, the story is quite enjoyable so far, and it's not as short as I was expecting.

[Brill Weave]

I like Infinite Undiscovery's story. But God damn the combat system is so fucking clunky. It's like they intentionally went out and made the most awkward system they could think of.

[Arnwulf]

I think one reviewer on RPGamers.com said it best, it's like they tried to recreate the Star Ocean 3 system and enhance it, but they failed miserably. I think most of the issues come from the fact that the game was rushed (in my opinion) and the typical polish that Tri-ace puts on their games was not able to be fully applied on this game. The fact that characters talk and their lips don't even move is inexcusable for a 360/PS3 title.

[Insanecyclone]

MGO

Updating to 1.3 right now and will buy SCENE sometime this week hopefully. It's been awhile since I've played this and I'm sure there isn't scene only servers thankfully.

Insanecyclone is also my name on MGO so send friend invite on it please :<

[Misuicide]

Starcraft US West!

[Yuri-G]

thats pretty surprising to hear, it's been a while since I played but I seem to remember being absolutely creamed on some of the bosses until I grinded up some to beat them. I know that if you're aiming to get every skill on every immortal, you'll more than likely naturally gain a fair amount of levels in the process, especially if you get the DLC dungeon and farm up the items in there.

edit: oh and I'm just about done with FFVI Advance, beat the game and took some time to grind up 8 party members to 99 and the other 4 to 85, which is probably overkill for the bonus dungeon but whatever. I'm kinda sick of the game but I know if I don't force myself to do it now I never will, and having the nice ultimate items for everyone will be pretty neat. Is it true you can get duplicates of the Soul of Thamasa/Master's Scroll in the post-game content on the GBA version?

you can get duplicates, although I never tried. I heard it's pretty hard. something about stealing from certain enemies in the bonus area, not the dungeon, but the one where you fight a bunch of enemies in a row.

currently playing:
- Puyo Puyo: 15th Anniversary Edition DS (but I'm always playing this)
- Ratchet & Clank (got everything except the gold weapons and RYNO, now on the last level, good god could there be any more of those guys who shoot multiple rockets from a huge distance? fuck!)
- Breath of Fire II GBA (fun game but I'm at the stupid part where you go back from Capitan, then return to Capitan, then get warped back, then go back again to fetch a carpenter, then go back to your home place... with the frequent random encounters this is driving me nuts). I'm kinda sad that they tripled gold and doubled XP, part of why I loved the game was that it's so hardcore. but at least it's easier to plow through on the bus this way.
- Wild Arms (at Port Timney right now, couldn't find the last statue in the Maze of Death so I got frustrated, left, and grinded until I maxed out my Hand Cannon. the next few bosses will not stand a chance against me. also, honestly, "Maze of Death?" could you be any more cheesy?)

edit: oh, also playing Solomon's Key 2 at work on nintendo8.com. ah, the glory days of puzzle games have long since passed... I miss them. I'm getting an urge to download Intelligent Qube.

[Insanecyclone]

Bought KOF '98 Ultimate Match(?) and SF2 HF from live marketplace just to get my ass kicked a lot and KOF is providing that feeling for me.

[Milks]

KOF98UM netcode is poop. :D

[Sol-Blackguy]

Xenogears, at the start of Disc 2. You know I forgot how insanely redundant it is just reading a bunch of events that seem like filler, I mean it doesn't even seem real. I got Billy's Omnigear and beat the Elements and their power ranger tribute combo haha.

The filler on disc 2 is thankfully strong enough to fight my urge to play again. Almost like having to level Ninja again in FFXI.