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[Empty_sky]

i started playing Final Fantasy V again. i ability grinded for about 5 hours to get the X-Magic ability for Lenna/Gulaf. so worth it. i'm working on getting X-Fight for Bartz/Faris now. after that, i cross the desert/quicksand place. wooooooo.

[Wildwurger]

I bought several games today: Arc the Lad 4: Long Subtitle, FF12 (for the...third? time), Infinite Space (/m/ wouldn't shut up about it), Tekken 6, and Baten Kaitos Origins (might as well use the Wii for SOMETHING). I've mostly been doing Tekken 6, and I like it so far. The scenario mode is interesting, and I'm glad it's not frustrating and crappy to control like Devil Within was.

I like to delude myself into thinking I don't suck at fighting games. It's kind of sad, but hey, at least Tekken 6 has a million things to do besides learn how to play a fighting game. :E

[DuskShark]

i started playing Final Fantasy V again. i ability grinded for about 5 hours to get the X-Magic ability for Lenna/Gulaf. so worth it. i'm working on getting X-Fight for Bartz/Faris now. after that, i cross the desert/quicksand place. wooooooo.

Val(or is it Bal?) Castle is your friend. Go downstaires and rape the Objet'd Arts with LV5 Death till you get those abilities.

Still playing Valkyria Chronicles. Doing some Reports. I wanna beat this before Valkyria Chronicles 2 reaches the States.

[Cless]

...I haven't been "playing" anything. But since I don't really want to make another topic for this, I've been on some weird anime kick the last couple weeks or so. I haven't really been on one in something like 5 years. I've watched several series and a movie so far on DVD:

1) Scrapped Princess - Watched this fantasy/sci-fi years ago as the fansubs came out. Each release was always greatly anticipated. I enjoyed revisiting it dubbed in English. Crispin Freeman made a great Shannon and Bridget Hoffman was perfect as Raquel. Sadly, Hoffman hasn't been used in any video games or anime since 2007...wonder why.

2) Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro - Made me yearn for classical anime character design to make a return in some form. It was a lot of fun through and through.

3) Fate/stay night - The moment I saw this unveiled years ago I knew I had to see it someday. This show would have been near-perfect if Shiro, the main character didn't manage to piss me off EVEN MORE than Emil Castagnier during the first half. He was the only black mark on it. Fortunately, Saber and Rin are so great, they, for the most part, saved the series for me. Disillusion is also quite possibly the greatest opening song ever (and it's rare I even like any to begin with).

4) Welcome to the NHK - A refreshing change of pace. This show was practically a blind buy...I literally knew nothing of it until it popped up in my Amazon quick picks. I did a little research and found it to be very intriguing--how could I not? It was the story of a guy I would say I relate to in numerous ways. Sold! The entire thing was a home run. It's easily up there as one of my all-time favorites. I'm now trying to get ahold of the novel it's based on as well as the manga. Seeing how the novel is out of print and running for $120+ on second-hand marketplaces, that might be hard.

5) Spice and Wolf (season 1)  - A very interesting fantasy/romance series. I like how it isn't a typical high-action swords 'n spells type of fantasy, too. Sadly the last episode didn't seem like any sort of ending and lord only knows how long until the second season is released on DVD. That's going to make the wait harder, and I'm not interested in fansubs. Holo is a cute-looking and very interesting character.

[Kogahazan]

1) Scrapped Princess - Watched this fantasy/sci-fi years ago as the fansubs came out. Each release was always greatly anticipated. I enjoyed revisiting it dubbed in English. Crispin Freeman made a great Shannon and Bridget Hoffman was perfect as Raquel. Sadly, Hoffman hasn't been used in any video games or anime since 2007...wonder why.

YES. Scrapped Princess was the first subbed anime series I've watched and for that it always has a special place in me. I was thinking about rewatching too, but haven't gotten around to it. I'm not sure about rewatching dubbed though since the voices seemed half and half to me, but I think I'll watch at least like 3 eps dubbed before deciding.

As for games, I've come off a little FPS spree. Beat the campaigns for Call of Duty 4 and World at War over spring break and beat Modern Warfare 2 just today actually. I always like how the games can be really immersive (except for dying every minute on veteran mode).

I guess next I'll try to see if I can beat Space Channel 5 and Part 2. After years of trying, I can't ever beat the last level of part 1, but I play it off and on anyway. Maybe it'll just take a few hours of sitting there and repeatedly trying. After that I'm not sure what to play next, maybe Bioshock 2, seeing as I'm halfway done with it going by chapter count. I also finished the first chapter of Gears of War over break too, so that's a possibility.

[Chuc]

4) Welcome to the NHK - A refreshing change of pace. This show was practically a blind buy...I literally knew nothing of it until it popped up in my Amazon quick picks. I did a little research and found it to be very intriguing--how could I not? It was the story of a guy I would say I relate to in numerous ways. Sold! The entire thing was a home run. It's easily up there as one of my all-time favorites. I'm now trying to get ahold of the novel it's based on as well as the manga. Seeing how the novel is out of print and running for $120+ on second-hand marketplaces, that might be hard.

Some really spine tingling moments like when Satou screams in fustration after that weird trip to the island, and also the Mouse Road chick's brother's mental breakdown.

[Cless]

Some really spine tingling moments like when Satou screams in fustration after that weird trip to the island, and also the Mouse Road chick's brother's mental breakdown.

I was at the edge of my seat when it became clear that Misaki was trying to suicide herself. As much as I relate to Sato, I would NEVER have treated her the way he did.

One of the biggest holes in the story that left me curious was...how did Sato "make up" with Misaki after he and Yamazaki followed her around? Sato was pissed at her for a while then suddenly everything is peachy again with no explanation. I hope the novel or manga do a better job at closing this.

[Kogahazan]

Oh, speaking of novels that do a better job of explaining things, I would track down the Scrapped Princess novels as well if you're into it, although Tokyopop only released the first three over here. I read through the first volume so far and it filled in a few new details like events leading up the Casulls leaving the village and how Shannon can indeed use magic but can't control it (forgot if the anime said he can't use it at all). I am loving it so far, but saddened that they stopped translating them so I probably won't be able to read the whole story. The manga is three volumes total, but doesn't really relate to the anime other than having Pacifica, Shannon, and Raquel. They don't encounter any characters from the anime, not even Peacemakers, and is more like miscellaneous stories of them on the run from the Mauser faith. It's sorta a sorta fun distraction if you can get them on the cheap though.

[Empty_sky]

Val(or is it Bal?) Castle is your friend. Go downstaires and rape the Objet'd Arts with LV5 Death till you get those abilities.

yeah... i would, but i never bother getting ANY blue magic in any FF game. i hate blue magic... for absolutely no reason. too late though, i already got X-fight by raping Nut Eaters and Skull Eaters near Jacole. too bad it took like, 3 hours lol.

[Cless]

Oh, speaking of novels that do a better job of explaining things, I would track down the Scrapped Princess novels as well if you're into it, although Tokyopop only released the first three over here. I read through the first volume so far and it filled in a few new details like events leading up the Casulls leaving the village and how Shannon can indeed use magic but can't control it (forgot if the anime said he can't use it at all). I am loving it so far, but saddened that they stopped translating them so I probably won't be able to read the whole story. The manga is three volumes total, but doesn't really relate to the anime other than having Pacifica, Shannon, and Raquel. They don't encounter any characters from the anime, not even Peacemakers, and is more like miscellaneous stories of them on the run from the Mauser faith. It's sorta a sorta fun distraction if you can get them on the cheap though.

I was pretty disappointed when I found out the SP novels were canceled/put on indefinite hiatus, otherwise I probably would have gone for them. Very little annoys me in this hobby more than a series not getting a complete release.

Praying this doesn't happen with the Spice and Wolf manga and/or novels, too, as I've decided to give them a try.

[Cheetah]

Besides checking for updates on the projects this is basically the only thread I read regularly around here. I got Etrian Odyssey entirely based on the great things I have heard about it from here. I even started "Now Playing..." threads in other forums I visit regularly. Anyways...

I was recently on a Castlevania kick for a while, also due to many of you here. I got through Portrait of Ruin and Circle of the Moon. I then played some of the original Castlevania but am stuck at the 5th level with Death. I am also a decent way through Symphony of the Night and Harmony of Dissonance, but have lost steam and might not pick them back up for a while.

In the mean time I decided to support some of the other translation efforts going on and I am doing an emulated play through of Final Fantasy XII: International using an English patch that has been developed over at Romhacking.net. I got the crazy urge to record it and do commentary. Basically this was my way of dealing with the fact that I am too poor to afford FFXIII right now.

I don't think it is particularly entertaining, but here is the link if anyone is interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fC1hYq2Kic

[Goshi]

Fate/stay night

If you don't mind h-content, I recommend playing the original visual novel version. Since the anime is based off the Fate route... which is probably the worst route >_>

yeah... i would, but i never bother getting ANY blue magic in any FF game. i hate blue magic... for absolutely no reason. too late though, i already got X-fight by raping Nut Eaters and Skull Eaters near Jacole. too bad it took like, 3 hours lol.

I love Blue Magic. It's the greatest addition to the series. ... Though I don't use it in FFIX since Quina may very well be the worst RPG character ever.

[Takel]

The FSN anime production is a horrid aberration of the Fate route with bits and pieces of the other two routes. I hated the Fate route personally since it was so dull and the Sabre/Shiro dynamic isn't exactly the most lively.

I've been meaning to buying a copy of the Scrapped Princess release. I remember being absolutely ecstatic when it got licensed since it was a series which I believed deserved one. Still got a copy of the old Keep-ANBU fansub release. Good to hear the dubbing has matching VAs. I was wondering why I couldn't find any more of the light-novels though, I guess my bookshelf will have to make do with only the three until TP gets off their arses.

I sorely want to get Demon Soul but my back-log is already pretty full up. Still got Dragon Age: Origins, both Mass Effects, Last Remnant, Valkyria Chronicles, Eternal Sonata, FFXIII and Resonance of Fate to go through. That's not counting the assorted other non-RPGs which I want to finish off.

I have finished recently both Infinite Space (DS) and White Knight Chronicles.

White Knight Chronicles had a nice single-player but the ending caught me a bit off-guard since I was expecting a bit more. Then again, ToG had the same effect on me so it might just be me powering through them a bit too heavily. The multi-player is interesting but the insanity in having to get grind guild ranks is an absolute bore. That and Aion has forever spoilt me for character customisation and I re-started the game 5 times just to get a player avatar that didn't bug me and wasn't a pre-set grab and go.

Infinite Space has a rather simplistic game play but the characters, dear god some of the character interactions are absolutely fantastic. 40-50 hour DS game, mileage may vary depending on how crazy you are with grinding up to get the latest and greatest ships into your fleet.

I'm currently working through Resonance of Fate when I have time. The combat system is daunting to say the least. I'm glad that it's relatively difficult to accidentally over-grind since combat effectiveness is somewhat lock stepped with the story progression, and it was really nice getting my ass kicked by the first boss for a change. Can't say too much since I'm fairly early in the game, but I absolutely love the relationship the three main protagonists have with each other.

[Empty_sky]

I love Blue Magic. It's the greatest addition to the series. ... Though I don't use it in FFIX since Quina may very well be the worst RPG character ever.

i just don't like having to have a Blue mage always in the party, sitting there, hoping that the enemies use a certain attack, which i most likely won't ever use at all. some of the blue magic DOES seem helpful like Aqua Rake, the Aero spells, and healing wind, but i just don't bother... it's weird, i spend hours grinding for certain abilities, but i refuse to have a certain mage in my party...

[Wildwurger]

hoping that the enemies use a certain attack

You wanna know what's screwed-up? Apparently, in FF Tactics A2, deploying a Blue Mage means that the enemy will NOT use the ability the Blue Mage can learn. EVER. You have to use one of those enemy-controlling classes to force them to use it on the Blue Mage.

The only reason we have Blue Magic is because Sakaguchi loves mages (just look at Lost Odyssey). He apparently didn't get the memo that warriors don't have to be linear anymore and can keep up with the mages in terms of damage, if you bother to give a crap about game design. FF9's party spread just pissed me off SO BADLY. We don't need Eiko. She has ZERO UTILITY, literally there as filler for when Garnet loses the ability to cast magic all the time. They could have dumped her for Beatrix, who has WHITE MAGIC, and then kept the game's armor balance (since only Freya and Steiner use the heavy armor).

I'm so, so, sorry I got off on that tangent. I have a real psychological hang-up about that sorta stuff and this is one of the few places I won't get banned for talking about RPGs in such detail.

I played SRW MX today. That's about it. Had a staring contest with Infinite Space and won, so I didn't play that. I'm just not feeling it. I want to like it, but the whole thing just seems...man, it's like a visual novel with weird gameplay. The ship battles don't make any sense. There's no way to predict what the enemy's going to do next, is there? So why would you ever choose "Dodge"? Wouldn't the enemy, who can more than likely read your moves (a staple of video games since time immemorial) just pick "Barrage" immediately afterwards?

[DuskShark]

On the final chapter in Valkyria Chronicles. Woohoo!