Now playing...

[Goshi]

[Cless Aileron]

Now, I've been playing too much Soul Calibur IV (Xbox 360).  I already unlocked most of the characters (expect the bonus characters) and I played so many online matches.

Oh yeah, and I looked up formulas for creating Tales characters in Soul Calibur IV.  I never knew creating a Colette would get me wanting to use Tira as one of my regulars and just have them fight Star Wars characters.  Now, if Namco Bandai would just tell us the way to unlock the Star Wars character that the system did not get.

[Craymel]

How detailed is the character creation system in soul calibur?

[Cless]

Unwrapping this right now...



Let's hope I don't get too addicted...

[Cless Aileron]

I think it's safe to say that I'm playing Tales of Vesperia (Xbox 360).  I'll leave any discussion of this to the other topic in the Tales section.

Unwrapping this right now...



Let's hope I don't get too addicted...

Are you open for being convinced to not jump into it so that the game doesn't consume you?  Then again I already know I'm going to fail this negotiation.  I mean, it is an NIS strategy game.

[Cless]

Well, it's good so far. The 1080p opening looks really amazing on my new TV. Everything else... well, it's Disgaea! Story seems a lot more promising than that of the second game's. No doubt the gameplay's going to be more ridiculous than either of previous two once I get further.

I'd probably be playing ToV right now if I had it, but it looks like I may not be getting that game for awhile.

Are you open for being convinced to not jump into it so that the game doesn't consume you?  Then again I already know I'm going to fail this negotiation.  I mean, it is an NIS strategy game.

Let's see... my clock in most previous NIS games went over 200 hours. But Disgaea 3 is ever bigger and badder than before. So...

I guess no Tales of Phantasia til 2009.

[Goshi]

Beat me to posting the cover myself =/

Still haven't got mine yet since I have to import my copy but I'm looking forward to this one. Especially if the story was better. The story is Disgaea 2 just didn't fit in well with the universe really.

Anyway I'm playing a ton of C74 stuff.

The updated version of Banshiryuu or however you spell it. Frantic bullet patterns and awesome boss fights. Blows the original away.

Siter Skain's RefleX as well. Very Saturnish graphics and also has awesome boss fights. Lots of tributes to famous shmups here too.

TWilight RefrAIN which is the sequel to TWilight INSanity. Its pretty good but like the 1st one, getting hit means big penalties.

And finally I have Patriot Dark. Very similar to Dodonpachi only the soundtrack isn't as good.

[Cless]

Especially if the story was better. The story is Disgaea 2 just didn't fit in well with the universe really.

Mao's a hell of a lot like Laharl, so there's some real Disgaea-like characterization this time. There's also this other dude that I swear was made to be some kind of parody of Adell, who thankfully gets kicked around by Mao all the time. Raspberyl's a lot different than I was expecting (was basically expecting her to be similar to Etna or even Hanako) but she's still more interesting than the two mains in D2.

I don't know what the hell they were thinking with the story in D2. I kept hoping they were just building up and building up for some joke of epic proportions... but it never happened. Adell and Rozalin were snooze inducing. It only got interesting when Etna showed up, but she couldn't save the show. And I was hoping Laharl would take over toward the end when he showed his face. Oh well, at least the gameplay was awesome.

D3 feels like a somewhat smaller upgrade over D2 than D2 was over D1 gameplaywise, but I'm not complaining. Even though they still haven't gone all out on the graphics, it's much easier on the eyes on my new TV than D2 is.

[Cless]

D3 has gripped me. Clock already says 30 hours. Oh noes.

I broke the crap out of my game last night while still being in chapter 3. Deathblow + Encroach + Enemy Lv+10% + enemy thrown to safe island = Lv 9999 enemy felled by level 20 mage who jumped to level 99 and earned 340 million HL.

Now my whole group has the best equipment you can possibly buy and tons of money leftover. The main storyline has become a complete pushover.

I love the item world.

The new upgradable skill system makes skills a LOT more powerful than they were in previous games. Even with my 2000+ defense, level 70 monsters can still do a 1000+ damage if they toss a skill at you. Kill, or be killed. Also, this skill system also makes those massive pools of SP actually useful.

[Cless]

I finished the main storyline last night. It's definitely better than Disgaea 2's, but still comes up quite short compared to the original. At this point I'm having a hard time believing they'll ever top it. Why did the game's story have a Hero and a Princess again? Almaz especially, because he was a totally lame loser-type stereotype. "No, Princess, you shouldn't do that!" "By the way something's wrong with me but I'll just pretend everything's okay, because I don't want you to worry, so that you can get mad at me later for being an idiot when I can't hide it anymore!". So lame... why can't we get someone amazing like Gordon again? But as usual, the main storyline is the tip of the iceberg in these games.

...So I'm still playing and trying to do the post game content. Leveling in this is much, much more difficult than the previous games for one reason: The new skill upgrading system is BROKEN BEYOND BELIEF. Upgraded skills are absurdly powerful. Enemies significantly weaker than your characters can, and will kill them in one hit with skill usage.

I wish they would patch and completely overhaul the skill system. A character with 6000 defense should not be taking 1400 points of damage from any enemy with only 1200 attack power, period! It doesn't really help that the skill levels on enemies don't scale realistically. They're REALLY high compared to a typical player at the same level.

On the flip side, it seems powerleveling can become much easier after you pass a certain point due to an item duping trick, specialists and all. Apparently, specialists like Manager and Statistician can now be stacked to your heart's content, instead of just being limited to 300. But you only get 300 per population slot. I think I still have a ways to go before I can dupe items and get statisticians, though.

While it's probably still the best game overall in the series, fixing the skill system would almost make this the perfect Disgaea game from a gameplay standpoint.

[Kogahazan]

Borrowing friends' PS3 and Wii while they're out in Japan.

Finished Twilight Princess last week and currently playing Metal Gear Solid 4. Already beat the game but playing through again to rack up Drebin points for the fun stuff. Going to play Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition afterward, going to mess around with the broken PRL laser.

[wicked ryoko]

I'm currently playing Persona 3: FES.  If you guys haven't played it, it's a pretty original, as in not only do you have to fight monsters, but you have to go to school, make friends and get enough sleep.  But you can't spend all your time doing just that.  After all, every full moon you have a big boss battle you have to fight regardless if you've leveled up enough of not.

[Cless]

Ugh. I'm about to give up on the D3 postgame. The overpoweredness of the skills just gets worse and worse. I'm tired of using an exploit to gain levels, I'd rather be fighting balanced enemies of decent levels, while powering up items and getting specialists in the item world.

[Kevassa]

Ugh. I'm about to give up on the D3 postgame. The overpoweredness of the skills just gets worse and worse. I'm tired of using an exploit to gain levels, I'd rather be fighting balanced enemies of decent levels, while powering up items and getting specialists in the item world.

So the skill upgrading ruins the game?
If it is so overpowered cant you use it for you own benefit?

[Cless]

It wouldn't help. I'd just get gangraped by a mob.

The postgame of Disgaea games strongly favors creating a solo godlike character. The process of leveling an entire party is way, way, WAY too slow.

If I could use the item dupe trick now, it wouldn't really be a big problem creating a party for postgame use, but I'll need some hundreds more hours of grinding before I can get it, I think...

[ForceCube]

I'm currently replaying Tales of the Abyss... been a while since I've played any Tales game, so I decided to pick one of the few I haven't beaten yet.

Last time I tried to play it all the way to the end, the stupid endless town-crawling near the end pissed me off so much I deleted my save and forgot that it even existed. But now I decided to play it only up to just before that retardedness starts, so I can enjoy only the good moments... and man, are they good. Game's still too damn long though

Also playing some Baroque every now and then. Still one of the best PS2 games I've played, and bar none the one with the most involving setting.