Now playing...

[Cless]

Well, I decided to make this thread to post about games we're currently playing. The forum's gone back into slow motion as far as posting so I guess I'll start off.

Right now I'm seriously attempting to bring some of my massive backlog down before the major deluge of cool looking games starts coming. It's already started for me with Summon Night still in transit, Disgaea 2 coming later in the month (which I'll be dropping everything to play), with Yakuza and Okami following shortly thereafter.

I've actually completed two backlogged games in the last month and, and another one of which I bought and played immedately, and am currently working on another backlogged game at the moment:

Resident Evil 4: This is the game that I bought and played immediately. I got sold on it after seeing a video of an infamous scene and decided I had to have it and finally check out what all the hype was about. The hype wasn't a bunch of crap. This game was utt:erly fantastic and easily one of the best games I've ever played. I went through it 7 times, twice starting from scratch and five times from a clear file, and one "from scratch" Pro mode game that I'm not sure I'll ever bother trying to complete. But anyway, the best $20 I've ever spent, no doubt. A total keeper. I'd die for a Wii version with Wiimote aiming control and 60 FPS (make it happen Capcom. You love porting stuff, get to work!!)

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door: I initally bought this game at the beginning of 2005. Started it a couple months ago. Actually started playing it before getting RE4 and continued and finished my game after the RE4 marathon. An okay game. Didn't live up to the hype for me. Kinda fun, but not one I'll likely be keeping or replaying. But still quite hyped up for Super Paper Mario.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: I initially got this for Christmas of 2004 and finished it a few days ago. Decided that I absolutely had to get this over with before the Wii and Twiligh Princess comes out (and to a lesser extent, before Phantom Hourglass for the DS comes around, since that takes place after this). Overall a fun, if short and very easy game. Not nearly half the game Ocarina of Time was, but a solid game nonetheless. I would have liked more dungeons and a bit more interaction with the important NPCs in the game (hope they'll be returning in PH). Sailing got a bit monotonous. (Here's hoping that TP will feature a huge, detailed overworld along lines of the 2D Zeldas. OoT was a big, empty and dead field for the most part, and WW is too much water with thinly spread, tiny island landmasses...)

And now, for what I'm currently working on, Baten Kaitos, Namco's other GameCube RPG released some months after Tales of Symphonia. It's alright. The graphics and music are phenomenally good (one of Sakuraba's best works ever, to be sure).

BK's story's a real stinker so far and this game by FAR has the worst voice acting I've ever heard in an RPG with spoken dialogue (it makes Grandia and Stella Deus sound like masterpieces). I randomly turn it off and on...sometimes it's just funny to hear how bad and pathetic it is. Unfortunately the voice settings do not affect battles at all. Xelha's battle voice is ANNOYING AS HELL and I want to stab her in the face. Aqua BURST! Fire BURST! AGHGEHU*O#Y%()*$#$R. I can feel my eardrums shattering everytime. At least I can switch her out of the party now. The other three guys I've got also sound horrible, but they're at least barely tolerable. I like most recent english dubs produced by competent studios, but I suspect Namco paid about $5 for the voice localization in this game and got the actors posers out of the same pool as ToP GBA. Oh, and I'd suspsect a few dollars of that budget was also spent to buy toilet paper rolls for the actors posers to speak into.

Aside from that, I enjoy the combat system for the most part. It's a card based system and you have to customize a deck of cards for each party member. Cards are everywhere, in fact ALL items are cards. As I progress further it's getting more hectic and as my character's hands get larger I also get less time to make decisions. My reaction times are pretty bad on defense turns. It gets a bit annoying on attack turns and you don't have any attack cards in your hand, or have attack cards that can only be played in succession... but I'm trying to work on that.

This game IS fun to play despite frustrations but it might turn out to be a little on the mentally overwhelming side for me as I get further. It's already too much for me to think about getting straights or pairs, let alone picking spirit numbers on cards that have more than one...

Anyway, this post turned out longer than I thought. I hope I finish Baten Kaitos before Disgaea 2 comes out.

[Stahn Ailron]

Not playing much at the moment, only playing two games at the moment, and it's really only to pass time till EVERYTHING comes out.

I'm going between Grandia 3 and Summon Night Craft Sword Monogatori: Hajimari no Ishi (3rd one). But the playings been sporadic at best.

I hope I finish Baten Kaitos before Disgaea 2 comes out.

May I suggest you invest in some ear plugs for that?

[Goshi]

Hitogata Happa
Awesome doujin shooter game, love it. Excellent game if you like bullet hell.

Yggdra Union
In Japanese, the best tactical RPG game for the GBA, period. Its coming out in english in October for Americaland so I might consider importing it... however thats when Disgaea 2 comes out here, oh well.

Puyo Puyo Sun Ketteiban
I LOVE Puyo Puyo. Puyo Puyo Sun is easily the best Puyo Puyo, Puyo Puyo Fever is good too but it doesn't compare. Besides I don't really like the new cast that much.

[Cless Aileron]

Currently, I've been playing two games.

Street Fighter Alpha Anthology (PS2).  I've been on a major Street Fighter kick lately (it can be attributed to the fact that I entered two different Street Fighter tournaments held at Comic Con).  Mainly been playing Street Fighter Alpha 3 in the collection and trying to get better at fighting (though I do love throwing in some Super Gem Fighter/Pocket Fighter in the mix).  I'm still amazed about what they did with Cody's background story.  I never thought one of the heroes of Final Fight would end up becoming a criminal for fighting whatever comes his way.  Either way, I also going out to learn to fight as him.

One last thing.  Dan Hibiki rules...despite the fact that he sucks as a fighter!

Tales of Symphonia (PS2).  Well, I did buy this to add to my game collection and I figure I should just play through it.  It's weird how I keep coming back to this game, despite my past...denouncement of this particular game in the series.  However, my current addiction to Street Fighter Alpha 3 is slowing down the playthrough progress.

I'm expected to add one more to the now playing list, since I'm currently returning a Gamefly rental and then wait for the next game to come (Which is Sonic Riders on the Xbox).

[Datschge]

BK's story's a real stinker so far and this game by FAR has the worst voice acting I've ever heard in an RPG with spoken dialogue. (...) I suspect Namco paid about $5 for the voice localization in this game and got the actors posers out of the same pool as ToP GBA.

That's actually the case more or less (no joke).

[throughhim413]

Tales of Phantasia - On this forum, do I really need to say anything about it?

Super Castlevania - The remake of the original NES Castlevania on SNES.  Amazing music and what!? 8-directional whipping!?  Gotta love Castlevania.  I'm trying to play through all of the Castlevania games in the main timeline in order (on the timeline).  So I'm just barely getting started.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater - My first real experience with Metal Gear Solid.  I've wanted to play them all for awhile.  It's a lot of fun.  The game has a great script and the gameplay is fun.  Again, I'm planning to play them all in chronological order.  MGS3 is the first, so I've got a lot ahead of me...

[Leroy]

I'm kind of playing Summon Night Swordcraft Story at the moment, picked it up a few weeks ago and just opened it (I've learned you have to pick up Atlus games when they come out if you have even a marginal interest in them). I'm enjoying the living hell out of it actually.. it's more hack-and-slash than a Tales game but that's okay and a nice change of pace.. for sure it's better than any portable Tales game thus far.

Other than that, I'm taking a short break from gaming, I have a few games I might hit for an hour here and there but I'm going into my other love, film, at the moment. I watched A Clockwork Orange last night and will probably dive into some Hitchcock or Lynch later in the week.

[Hen78]

Radiata Stories - I've abandoned my first playthrough, which only lasted 18 hours (just prior to the split), and I'm now attempting to get all characters on the human side (yes, I am using a guide btw). It's actually my 3rd game, I screwed up on the second

Valkyrie Profile Lenneth - playing on my PSP that cost me nothing . Attempting the A ending on Hard (again, with a guide).

Fallout (1) - Classic PC RPG. Avoid its fanbase at all costs, though.


Next on the list (not including forthcoming releases):
Summon Night Swordcraft Story
Metroid Prime (2nd playthrough, possibly on Hard)


I would also have been playing SFA Anthology but Play somehow managed to screw up my order. Bah

[StIoachim]

Nothing new on the list, but I just started Final Fantasy VI again...

I need money for other things, but have to finish:
Warcraft 3, Half-Life, Warcraft 2

Next on the list (that are at hand):
W3:The Frozen Throne, W2: Beyond the Dark Portal, Half-Life 2, Xenogears

[Kogahazan]

Oh, and I'd suspsect a few dollars of that budget was also spent to buy toilet paper rolls for the actors posers to speak into.

Haha. I've been playing a little BK lately myself. It was on sale, so I said why not. Anyway, I haven't made too much progress, but I know what you mean with the toilet paper rolls. From what I gather, that's actually on purpose. Since you're the guardian spirit and all, you hear things through the ears of the person you're bonded with which is why everything sounds like it's being spoken through a tube. I also hear that later you learn to filter it out and then things sound more normal. I don't mean to say that this is true, so I'm not liable if this info is wrong. It would be favorable for the info to be correct, though... to save your eardrums from rupturing, or at least to save your sanity.

Anyway... hell, I don't need to tell you what I'm playing, I have that whole topic dedicated to it. XD

But for what has my attention currently...

Street Fighter Alpha Anthology
I've been playing this for the past few days. Great arcade ports. Unfortunately for Alpha 3, an arcade port means no World Tour mode from the console versions. World Tour was great since you could customize your character and use them in any mode. This was only really beneficial for online competition which the Dreamcast and the PSP versions have. I believe World Tour was also on the PS1 version, but it was largely useless since there's no online feature for PS1 and you could only use it against your friends as opposed to the whole world. Alpha Anthology isn't online either, so it doesn't take a big loss from not having World Tour mode.

Evolution
Cute little Dreamcast RPG. It's very simple for an RPG, but sometimes we need a break from more complicated RPGs. You have basic attacks, special attacks, equips, and items. There's not much to it and the game pretty much is straightforward. In fact, it's so straightforward, you may think it's more complicated than it' really is because you're expecting more when there isn't. The dungeons are randomly generated each time you go in them so you'll find yourself replaying dungeons to see what new treasure you can find. The main game is very short, but that's why you go back into the dungeons to see what new things you can find. It's a good game for those new to RPGs.

Baten Kaitos
Cless has said what needs to be said about it. I am enjoying it, but haven't made much progress on it. Yeah, it gets more difficult when you Class Up (You have Class Up in addition to Level Up. Class Up lets you put more cards into your hand each turn, but it reduces the amount of time you have to pick cards). It gets exciting when you start seeing special spirit card attacks which look very vivid and colorful. The game's graphics fit the definition of "eye candy" so well, they can give your eyes cavities. Voice acting is bland and can be unbearable, but you can't really avoid it in-battle as Cless said, so you must learn to deal with it. Overall a filling game for the RPG-starved Gamecube.

[Cyllya]

MYST - old computer game you've probably heard of.

Fable - PC version. Pretty fun.

SO3 - I wish it had a battle camera mode besides "queasiness-inducing flip-flop" mode and "stuff is too damn small to see" mode. I wish it didn't have a bunch of extraneous pausing in cutscenes. I hope it stops giving "go for a walk" as an objective. Other than those things, it's good, I guess.

Replaying ToA and ToS (still on my first time through the PS2 version).

I've got a bunch of other unfinished games I mean to finish someday.

[Stonebone]

Oh, and I'd suspsect a few dollars of that budget was also spent to buy toilet paper rolls for the actors posers to speak into.

If you enable dolby in the sound options the sound quality of the voices gets much better, even without a reciever. I guess it's a bug in the game.

[Jinketsu]

Final Fantasy XI - I hate MMOs... but I'll admit, this one is great. It has a phenominal storyline, which is probably my favorite in the FF series (tied with FFIV), most of the people I run into are really cool, and, while a lot of the game is cooperative-based, there are plenty of things to do on your own, so you don't have to sit and bore yourself to tears while waiting for an invite. I've been playing this game for quite a few years, and see a bunch of years to come, so long as there is still something to do in it.

Tales of Legendia - sadly, after the 'story' I started waning on my interest. I don't play it as much as I do, and I'm going with maybe a character chapter every few weeks. I believe I'm a little past Grune's story, and I've got to say - even though they're nice, the anime cutscenes for each character were too short. Will's and Moses' scenes were probably the only two worth working for, so I'm hoping there's one at the end that quite longer and worth watching.

F-Zero GX - I know you can unlock the Arcade game's course if you beat the other courses on Master.. but I'm having a bit of trouble with it  ;   Diamond Cup is just a pain.

Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker - I never did finish my 100% goal with Link in his pajamas. I figure I better get it done before Twilight Princess and my Wii take over.

[Kogahazan]

Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker - I never did finish my 100% goal with Link in his pajamas. I figure I better get it done before Twilight Princess and my Wii take over.

Haha, it's sort of worth it to get 100% in jammies. The only real difference from the normal game is that whenever a character spoke Hylian in the normal playthrough, it's translated into English in the pajamas playthrough.

[throughhim413]

Speaking of Wind Waker, has anyone else ever taken the time to complete the Photo Gallery?  Not that I recommend this of course.  I'm just curious if anyone else has wasted so much of their life for so little reward.

[Kogahazan]

Speaking of Wind Waker, has anyone else ever taken the time to complete the Photo Gallery?  Not that I recommend this of course.  I'm just curious if anyone else has wasted so much of their life for so little reward.

Yes, I have =p
Took my pajamas playthrough to finish it since you start out with the color camera.
Not really worth it, but it's cool to go back and just look at the figurines just for the wow factor of having completed it. It also makes good bragging fodder.