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[BassForever]

I just finished my second run though of Miles Edgeworth, a difficult run of Mega Man 2 because I never realized that difficult was the original difficulty and that normal was actually easy Thankfully it's still an easy game I beat it in 2-3 hours (no saves stages either )

I'm currently playing Jump Ultimate Superstars and waiting for the release of Final Fantasy 13 and the Firewalker DLC for Mass Effect 2.

[DuskShark]

I got over my rage and playing Shin Megami Tensei: Persona and it's coming back again.

Warning for those who are in the Snow Queen Quest: It will. Piss. The. Living. Hell. Out. Of. You. Especially the boss.

[Wildwurger]

Final Fantasy 13. I'm at THAT ONE BOSS and I just feel like giving up. This happens a lot, too. There's always something I never see or something I can never fundamentally-grasp in most 360/PS3 games. Like there's a hole in my brain where the answer should be.

I don't even know why I have a PS3 or 360. I don't think I'm equipped to deal with the future of games. RPGs are becoming RPGs in name only, or they look like PS2 games, or they're on the wrong system, or they never come out here, or they're only on handhelds so they're not as long or fine-tuned as they could possibly be.

[Wildwurger]

Double-posting to say I got past that part yesterday. It's true, though. I just suck.

Wondering what to play right now. Toss-up between more SRW or Another Century's Episode 2.

[Empty_sky]

I'm finally in Hollow Bastion in Kingdom Hearts. in this ONE playthrough, i think i've gotten more game-overs than all of my other playthroughs combined... and i've played this game six times! why the hell did they make Expert mode so damn hard! lol.

[DuskShark]

Beat Rogue Galaxy. Now for Tales of the Abyss. And F-Zero GX will come some time next week.

[Cless]

Miles Edgeworth: Ace Attorney: Investigations: Have played through cases 1-4. So far I have a hard time ranking it against the other Ace Attorney games, but they're all good and so is this. Playing as the more confident...and intelligent Edgeworth is refreshing change of pace from Phoenix and Apollo. The main series needs to adopt this game's investigation format.

Final Fantasy XIII: I feel as if I'm liking this more than I'm supposed to. I have never seen an FF game get so much negative attention, ever. Well, whatever...I'd much rather have ten of these than the countless number of first- and third-person shooters that over-saturate both of the HD consoles' lineups.

First impressions going into the game were pretty "eh"...I had no idea what was going on, the battle system was so simplistic it seemed stupid, and the explorable areas were little more than straight lines.

But the game has grown on me as I get through it and the game systems have unfolded. The battle system seemed incredibly stupid at first because there wasn't anything to it except to select a command called "Auto-battle" and target an enemy. Well, there was also manual inputs, but that gets pretty tedious due to the very hectic nature of the battle system, and the fact that you input more than one command per turn.

It turns out that a little later, the game introduces a sort of "job" system (roles). All roles have different sets of abilities and the key to winning is to switch the roles up in the middle of battle (paradigm shift) to use them strategically. The game incorporates a surprisingly smart AI to handle your team members and the party leader's Auto-battle command to use the most advantageous skills automatically, so you can focus more on paradigm shifts without worrying much. If you do not use paradigm shifts properly, the game WILL hand you your ass. That's a guarantee...this game is designed in such a manner that it cannot be brute-forced. That's right...this game's battle system is about wit, not how many hours you grind your characters for.

The game is keenly aware that you can easily lose a fight, so it doesn't send you back to the last save point (unless you want it to) by giving you the option to Retry--which puts you right in front of the enemy you just fought without penalty.

I'm actually getting some enjoyment out of this game's story. I was very, very confused for a while, but then I opened up the game's datalog...think Tales' synopsis, but combine that with an encyclopedia on a whole bunch of things regarding the game's world. It cleared up a lot of confusion, making it possible for me to actually follow the story. I would have been very lost without it.

The main thing that bothers me is the map design. Can it possibly be any more linear? I don't actually care that there are no towns in the traditional sense (the game was designed to function without them...big effin' deal).

Well, whatever. So far I think I like this at least more than FFX (which I neither hated nor loved). I don't like it as much as Tales of Vesperia, but that's my Tales bias speaking.

[neogalahad]

Started FF XIII, I freakin hated this game when I started playing. I played for about 3 hours and was completely and utterly dissappointed by the battle system, lack of towns and no control of who or what you do. I felt like I was watching a movie with choosing what animation to watch next...I put it down for about 3 days and sucked it up to start playing again and now I am warming up to it. It only took 8 hours to do so....I read an article on RPGfan stating the developers ran out of time and thats why there are no towns and that a lot of the rpg element is missing. They also said that this game was a learning experience and that the next installment (XV) will incorporate towns and more RPG element....this is bullshit. Im glad that they were able to accomplish the cutscenes and amazing texture art, but as a game it still makes me mad.

[DuskShark]

Hey, Cless. How hard is it to run away from battles in FF13?

Whenever I play an RPG, I like to know how hard it will be to escape from battle. Some encounters can be nasty!

[Cless]

There is no run away option. If you really want to get out of a fight, just die and select Retry...there's no penalty for losing. Encounters in this aren't random either.

Should also mention FFXIII has had me addicted ever since I put in my PS3. Can't put it down.

[Cless Aileron]

There is no run away option. If you really want to get out of a fight, just die and select Retry...there's no penalty for losing. Encounters in this aren't random either.

Should also mention FFXIII has had me addicted ever since I put in my PS3. Can't put it down.

You're able to pause and hit Select/Back to retry a battle, even if you don't die.  I had trouble with the Odin battle that I was retrying that way when I had to admit, "I can't win on this attempt."

Yeah, I'm also playing Final Fantasy XIII.  I think you might have caught a post I made on your backloggery about how this game got too much negative attention, even for something mainstream.  The complaints about not having this in an RPG or being this way.  Not to mention, this game managed to bring out the worst in the crap that is the console war.  So much mixture of the two.

I'm not going to get into the whole thing about one version and the other and why I am nuts (I'm still going to be tongue in cheek about it, so you might want to get used to it).

However, I'm really enjoying it!  The battle system is a blast.  I'm still trying to see about doing more on chaining attacks on my own to see if I find good attack methods.

I'm also enjoying the story and characters (Sazh is the man).  I also like the little touches done with the datalog too.  Not only using something similar to Tales' synopsis, but also building up on it with its encyclopedia so one can read up on the game's world.

I never thought I'd say something like this again but...I'm actually enjoying a new Final Fantasy game!

[Yetika]

Meanwhile I'm still playing The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. Really ought to have finished it by now but the offline world has been getting in the way. A family member of mine did recently purchase the 360 version of FFXIII though, and what little I've sneaked a peak at it looks very good. I guess other folks have been hating on it because of the traditional RPG elements/features they're used to having suddenly aren't there any more, which jars them. But hey, progress is needed to keep the genre from stagnating!

[ForceCube]

But hey, progress is needed to keep the genre from stagnating!

I don't mean to start a discussion or anything, but to have "progress" you need to either improve something or replace it with something better, don't you? Neither of which is the case in FFXIII. Lots of things were taken away, but there's absolutely nothing in their place.

[Bartlebycs]

Final Fantasy XIII is better than I expected.  I agree about the overdose of linearity, though.  It's the game's one flaw that I can't look past.  And Sazh is indeed the man   Vanille is also growing on me.   

Lightning p***** me off, though.  Maybe later on when she stops being such a b**** I'll start to like her.


Currently near the start of Chapter 4.

[Wildwurger]

...do you really have to censor yourself? I think we're all mature adults here and can at least use PG-13 language.

I am also playing FF13 still. I don't make as much progress on it as the rest of the internet, as I play other things. I prefer not to play something for a really, really extended period of time (as in, two days or more or so) because then I may end up getting way too mad at a point where I'm stuck, or just have a run-of-the-mill game over and then quit for a week even though it's not so bad.

I have yet to beat any DS game that's in English. It's horrible. I have to pull myself out of this grinding-feedback loop I've gotten myself into in Endless Frontier and just beat the damn thing. And I have no idea why I can't just do the last 10-15% of the first two DS Castlevanias (I sold Order of Ecclesia because I wasn't feeling it; no offense to anyone who likes it). And I need to stop being mad at FF4 and just get through it already. Dammit, the Summoned Monsters Path Cave isn't that bad, I just...damned stupid map and the hidden passageways and the non-rotating camera!

[Bartlebycs]

...do you really have to censor yourself? I think we're all mature adults here and can at least use PG-13 language.

I am also playing FF13 still. I don't make as much progress on it as the rest of the internet, as I play other things. I prefer not to play something for a really, really extended period of time (as in, two days or more or so) because then I may end up getting way too mad at a point where I'm stuck, or just have a run-of-the-mill game over and then quit for a week even though it's not so bad.

I have yet to beat any DS game that's in English. It's horrible. I have to pull myself out of this grinding-feedback loop I've gotten myself into in Endless Frontier and just beat the damn thing. And I have no idea why I can't just do the last 10-15% of the first two DS Castlevanias (I sold Order of Ecclesia because I wasn't feeling it; no offense to anyone who likes it). And I need to stop being mad at FF4 and just get through it already. Dammit, the Summoned Monsters Path Cave isn't that bad, I just...damned stupid map and the hidden passageways and the non-rotating camera!

LOL, it kind of becomes a habit when you post in another forum that doesn't allow profanity.  I actually miss the Final Fantasy of old, with the 2D maps and the random encounters...  Not to say that the new ones are bad, but I wouldn't mind if Squenix took a page from Mega Man's book and did a game or two in the old style to put on PSN.