Soooooo what'cha playing?

[vanguard333]

1 hour ago, lightcosmo said:

The air dodging is a modified "easy mode" of melee's, not what I'd prefer, but better than smash 4's. The "paralysing" is clashing, from what your describing, which is a good system. I also agree that subspace is better. 

Thanks. When I first noticed the clashing, I thought it was neat. But it became annoying when I noticed how long it often seems to last. I just wish it didn't last as long. As for air-dodging, I was so young when I played Smash Bros. Melee that I never got used to using dodging, so I wouldn't know. 

 

25 minutes ago, Glennstavos said:

All those and more. In particular, with regards to the two women in charge, there is still folks bickering about the details and various theories to this day. It's not pretty, but also probably remarkable that there's so much information about this world of Fodlan that people can hold such complicated opinions about the narrative.

Interesting. I'm currently disregarding any opinions I may have on the two women in charge until I play through the whole game. So, right now, I just mainly dislike that, at one of the most major plot decisions in the game, I wasn't given any information on why they were doing what they were doing. How can I choose when I know nothing?

[DragonFlames]

Speaking of Three Houses, I have just started another run myself. Planning to play the Crimson Flower route because of the free updates that have been released recently (and also because Edelgard got not one but two perfect level ups in the first two maps she was in).
I finally get why people like recruiting characters from other houses so much. You can make pretty crazy teams this way. I recruited Mercedes, Leonie, Lysithea, and Lorenz, though I'm planning to kill off the latter once he has fulfilled his noble duty of providing Thyrsus to Lysithea. I am f***ing evil, I know...
Having Mercedes here makes the decision to bench Linhardt that much easier. Good riddance.

As for why I recruited Leonie... well, I needed someone who can do the Lance tournaments for me, as I want to make a new meme character happen: Ferdinand von Flier (put Ferdinand von Aegir on a Wyvern, so he becomes a flier and flier rhymes with Aegir when pronounced the way the game does, hence von Flier instead of von Aegir... and I just explained the joke. Gods damn it). But in order to make that happen, Ferdie needs to prioritize Axes, so I can't train him in Lances as I usually do. And that's where Leonie comes in. Not to mention she's just flat out better than Ferdinand in every conceivable way, unit-wise. Also, something something Paralogue something.

Lysithea I recruited because I was interested in her supports with Edelgard. Her level ups have been nothing short of hot garbage so far, however. Offensively, Bernadetta and Petra outclass her so much it's not even funny. I'm not surprised when it comes to Petra, as she has always been one of the best units in the Black Eagles, but Bernadetta is... a little more surprising, considering her stats are widely agreed upon to be shaky in nature. Don't make me regret recruiting you, Lysithea. Please.

And Mercedes is there because 1) as mentioned before, having the best healer in the game (I mean Physic AND Fortify, come on!) allows me to bench Linhardt, 2) I do like Mercedes as a character, 3) she has a support with Ferdinand that seems to be quite interesting, and 4) (MAJOR SPOILERS!)

I want to see her supports with Jeritza.

[Jingle Jangle]

Completed Rise of the Tomb Raider today, thought it was a decent experience. The story was nothing to write home about. Being a discount Indiana Jones Last Crusade along side of the same formula of TR 13 Gameplay wise it's a okayish 3rd person shooter with a vast amount of items to collect . My favorite aspect of the game the tombs most of all. There are bigger and complex than anything in the previous game. More of the same, but in a good way.

[Hardric62]

Got to take a look at AoE 2 Definitive Edition. New factions are interesting if OP in some aspects, with Tatars as a personal favorite amongst the new faces, and the complete overhaul the old Forgotten campaigns and battles got is quite impressive. However, holy gygax is it taking its toll onmy computer when I play, worth it though.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Spyro 2: Season of Flame is an improvement over the previous GBA game in every respect. Seriously after re-reading my review I'm stunned at how many issues I expressly named that are addressed while the game is still clearly working on the same engine.

Spoiler

• The camera is much less zoomed in
• The look function is faster and lets you see farther
• There's a map of each level that also communicates where you've been already
• The atlas is more detailed and communicates what you've accomplished so far
• Levels are no longer comprised of floating platforms, and actually exhibit what you may call "level design"
• There is also railing to help guide you in the right directions.
• Level design doesn't ask the player to make many leaps of faith, though depth perception can still occasionally fool you.
• Level objectives are no longer the same three objectives each time
• level objectives no longer warp you to your reward against your will.
• Level objectives typically only reset on game over rather than death so there's less fear of failure.
• You don't need to collect 100% of the Fireflies just to beat the game. Instead it's a more manageable 75/100
• The game also features more variety with stages playing as Agent 9 and Sheila the Kangaroo from Spyro 3. Though the top down shooter Sparx stages of the previous game are missed.

This is about as good as an isometric platformer could be expected to be, though still doesn't come close to the Spyro trilogy in terms of playability. The collectathon genre can only shine when the player can look out at the possibilities surrounding them. It may be the best improvement a sequel has ever made over the original that I have ever seen, though I guess that doesn't say much since it's not typical of bad games to get sequels. I rate it a 5.4 out of 10.

I also played The Mummy Returns for Game Boy. Just the sort of third rate licensed game any child could be expected to grow up with and never really play. Although I guess today's children have less licensed games on consoles don't they? Maybe all that shovelware only exists on phones now. This game has decent gameplay variety with endless runner stages, sword duels, and Time Crisis-inspired rail shooter segments. I'm not joking about the last one and they're probably the most playable of the gameplay styles. The endless runner stages are frustrating but often have generous checkpoints. The game has no extra life system so there's no fear of failing too much when you can endlessly continue. The Sword duels are pretty bad. Just serving as a mashfest for the attack button with little theoretical strategy. And all gameplay styles have atrocious hit detection. The game is at most an hour long so it's all over before anything gets too stale. I rate it a 3.3 out of 10.

[Armagon]

About a month after the game came out, i finally finished Atelier Ryza. I had a very fun time with the game. I wouldn't call it the best Atelier but it's certinaly up there.

First off, the game just looks really good. It's one of the things that instantly caught my eye when they first showed off this game. Atelier has never looked so good. I was a bit wary of the combat system at first, since it was taking a Final Fantasy ATB approach but i grew to enjoy it, and this is coming from someone who doesn't like Finalt Fantasy's ATB. It's fast-paced but you have enough freedom. Attacks also don't have to be queud, which is good. Alchemy is also really good and i really hope they keep this method for future. At the very least, we'll be getting it for the rest of the Secret Trilogy (tentative title, no trilogy has actually be confirmed but Atelier usually runs for trilogies, with Ryza being the start of a new one). Music's a delight. And the characters are great too.

A bit of the downsides, this Atelier has a bit more of an important plot which itself is fine but it just takes a while to get going. I'm not a huge fan of the game's Core Charge mechanic. Basically, unlike the traditional finite use of items, items are infinite use but you can only use them so many times until you return to the atelier. Really hope they just go back to traditional item use. I also wish there were a few more character events. The events themselves are fine, i just wish there was more. Speaking of wanting more, i wish there were more battle themes. The ones that are there are good but there ain't a whole lot. But these last two points are more nitpicky than actual criticism.

Overall, it's a great game. I hasn't beaten my favorite Atelier game, Atelier Lulua, but it came really close. It really just came down to the number of character events. Quality over quantity but when the quality is equal, then quantity matters. As for where i'd rank it with the rest of the series, i've only played the Arland games but my ranking goes: Atelier Lulua > Atelier Ryza > Atelier Meruru > Atelier Rorona >>>>>> Atelier Totori.

Looking forward to the next Atelier game next year because that's how this series goes.

Edited December 1, 2019 by Armagon

[Lightcosmo]

Playing Final Fantasy Type 0. I really enjoy that game, considering all of its flaws. On my second playthrough so far and still enjoying it so much. Also platinumed the game, so I'm happy with that as well. 

[DragonFlames]

13 hours ago, Armagon said:

About a month after the game came out, i finally finished Atelier Ryza. I had a very fun time with the game. I wouldn't call it the best Atelier but it's certinaly up there.

First off, the game just looks really good. It's one of the things that instantly caught my eye when they first showed off this game. Atelier has never looked so good. I was a bit wary of the combat system at first, since it was taking a Final Fantasy ATB approach but i grew to enjoy it, and this is coming from someone who doesn't like Finalt Fantasy's ATB. It's fast-paced but you have enough freedom. Attacks also don't have to be queud, which is good. Alchemy is also really good and i really hope they keep this method for future. At the very least, we'll be getting it for the rest of the Secret Trilogy (tentative title, no trilogy has actually be confirmed but Atelier usually runs for trilogies, with Ryza being the start of a new one). Music's a delight. And the characters are great too.

A bit of the downsides, this Atelier has a bit more of an important plot which itself is fine but it just takes a while to get going. I'm not a huge fan of the game's Core Charge mechanic. Basically, unlike the traditional finite use of items, items are infinite use but you can only use them so many times until you return to the atelier. Really hope they just go back to traditional item use. I also wish there were a few more character events. The events themselves are fine, i just wish there was more. Speaking of wanting more, i wish there were more battle themes. The ones that are there are good but there ain't a whole lot. But these last two points are more nitpicky than actual criticism.

Overall, it's a great game. I hasn't beaten my favorite Atelier game, Atelier Lulua, but it came really close. It really just came down to the number of character events. Quality over quantity but when the quality is equal, then quantity matters. As for where i'd rank it with the rest of the series, i've only played the Arland games but my ranking goes: Atelier Lulua > Atelier Ryza > Atelier Meruru > Atelier Rorona >>>>>> Atelier Totori.

Looking forward to the next Atelier game next year because that's how this series goes.

Congrats on finishing it! Glad you had fun with it. I see we agree on many things, too.

[Reality]

I bought Company of Heroes 1 and Mount and Blade : Warband over the Black Friday sales.

 

CoH 1 I got because everywhere I looked people said CoH 2 is for people who want to do multiplayer all the time, but CoH 1 has an actually good Singleplayer Campaign (I like multi in this genre, but my timeeeeeeee) 

Mount and Blade snuck onto an RPG list that someone I follow put up and I was confused because I thought it was a Dynasty Warriors clone, so I bought it as part of an investigation.

[Lightcosmo]

I replayed Xenoblade Chronicles X again. I forgot how great this games exploration feels. Not as good as the first one or XC2, but I still think it's great in its own ways.

[DragonFlames]

I finally got the opportunity to play Fire Emblem Thracia 776. I reached Chapter 3 and I really enjoy the game so far. Here are some impressions and thoughts up until this point:

• The story has me hooked from the very first second. I think this is going to be a good one. There is good potential for character development here.
• The Capture mechanic is exactly as awesome as I hoped it would be. It's fun capturing enemies and nicking their stuff. So far, I used to get Vulneraries and acquire some additional weaponry for the characters I want to use.
• Speaking of mechanics, I love how randomly, your units can move again. I had this happen with Eyvel, Dagdar, Ronan, and Leif so far.
• Throwing you into a fog of war map without warning - in a game with ambush spawns, no less - this early in the game is kind of a d*** move. If Finn and Eyvel didn't exist, the Marty Party would have ended, because for whatever reason, I constantly forgot to move the poor guy.
• Speaking of which, I wish this game had the option to automatically end the Player Phase when every unit has moved. Having to end it manually is a tiny bit of a hassle if you're not used to it.
• Chapter 1: you get a Lance Knight that comes with a Brave Lance. In a house you can visit (with Halvan), you get a Brave Axe. Both weapons have a whopping 60 uses. Holy sh**, that's amazing.
• 1-2 range swords! I repeat: 1-2 range swords!
• Leif seems to be quite weak unit-wise. He has trouble doubling and killing a lot of stuff right now.
• Swordmaster Jeigan. Because why the f*** not?
• Also, Berserker Jeigan. Because why the f*** not?
• This makes the only game I've played where you get not one, but two Jeigan type (early prepromote) units. That is, if my memory doesn't fail me completely.
• Here's a list of the units I want to use out of the ones I have: Leif, Dagdar, Orsin, Tania, Finn, Safiya, and Lithis. Feel free to murder me for picking the wrong ones (actually don't, because I kinda want to keep living).
• Magic and Resistance being the same stat reminds me of Gen 1 Pokémon, where Special Attack and Special Defense were one stat, as well. This sounds like it'll make Mages really, really strong.
• The music, while pretty good, feels a little basic. So far, there hasn't been anything too outstanding. It does work with a strategy game, though, as the music isn't too distracting, either. The map themes provide a nice ambience that makes it easy to focus on what's going on.
• A question to any veterans of this game: why do people crit so often on their second attacks? Did I just get insanely lucky or is there something I should know about at play here?

[Reality]

@DragonFlamesThere's a special stat in Thracia called PCC (pursuit crit critical) that only applies to the second hit - the first crit only uses regular formula. How much PCC each charather has  it is set in stone on a charather by charather basis though. 

https://serenesforest.net/thracia-776/miscellaneous/calculations/ (PCC for each charather is on the charather base stat page as well)

Anywany with at least 3 can get into automatic critical range  and the 1-2 can do it if their skill growth is loaded.

 

 

[DragonFlames]

26 minutes ago, Reality said:

@DragonFlamesThere's a special stat in Thracia called PCC (pursuit crit critical) that only applies to the second hit - the first crit only uses regular formula. How much PCC each charather has  it is set in stone on a charather by charather basis though. 

https://serenesforest.net/thracia-776/miscellaneous/calculations/ (PCC for each charather is on the charather base stat page as well)

Anywany with at least 3 can get into automatic critical range  and the 1-2 can do it if their skill growth is loaded.

Ah, I see. That explains it. Thank you!
This makes Killer Weapons really interesting to use on units that don't have that high damage output.
Makes you wonder why they didn't keep this in future games.

[Lightcosmo]

41 minutes ago, DragonFlames said:

Makes you wonder why they didn't keep this in future games.

I would say this is so the speed stat isn't overcompensated, with being able to double and affecting evasion, it doesn't really need pretty much forced crits, either.

[Jingle Jangle]

Recently I have completed Shadow of the Tomb Raider. I thought it has the best gameplay out of all of the game. There are so many optional tombs to raid, even more with the dlc. The puzzles are the most complex of the reboot trilogy which I appreciate; for some I had to look up the answer online since I was stumped. Tons of stuff to collect as usual. Shooting is the same fair but with rappel sequences and underwater sections.  Story wise I have less positive to say. In Shadow after Lara Croft have a body count in the quad digits.There is an idea of her journeys are for the sake for her ego. An interesting idea, but not developed enough. Yet again there is another artifact that can change the world so Croft must obtained the doohickey for herself. Lara doesn't go through an arc sadly. More of the same, but hey it's in South America nice locations to visits. 

[DragonFlames]

2 hours ago, lightcosmo said:

I would say this is so the speed stat isn't overcompensated, with being able to double and affecting evasion, it doesn't really need pretty much forced crits, either.

Fair point, but Speed is already the stat to win 'em all (this goes for any game with turn-based combat, really), and having this PCC thing in other Fire Emblem games would make certain units that are now considered bad at least worth consideration, for example, Lyn, Eirika, or FE9!Mia.

[Sire]

21 hours ago, Reality said:

I bought Company of Heroes 1 and Mount and Blade : Warband over the Black Friday sales.

Mount and Blade snuck onto an RPG list that someone I follow put up and I was confused because I thought it was a Dynasty Warriors clone, so I bought it as part of an investigation.

Mount and Blade: Warband is an excellent game, especially if you start deep diving into the mods. The main premise is you start off as a a simple individual with various backgrounds, and eventually you'll raise up in rank to a vassal of an existing state, or simply go out and found your own kingdom. As M&B is a sandbox, there is no real "ultimate goal" besides conquering the entire map for yourself or your sworn kingdom. (Some mods will add a "postgame" of sorts by conquering a really hard castle or adding an invasion.)

However, I will admit, it has an extremely slow start. The starting portion of M&B typically revolves around grinding in Arena fights and taking small quests that fight against bandits. Later, once you have some companions and a decent army, you can start getting involved with politics and military affairs acting as a mercenary or a vassal for a kingdom. Alternatively (or later on), you can strike out on your own to carve your own kingdom onto the land.
Once you get started in actual battles with opposing kingdoms and begin getting lands of your own, the game really opens up as there is plenty to do. Its just the early game grind that really sucks.

If the vanilla game is enjoyed but you want more, I believe there was a great vanilla enhancing mod on the TaleWorlds forums. Alternatively, if you want higher difficulty in a unique setting, try out the Prophesy of Pendor mod. PoP is amazing and I highly recommend giving it a whirl.

* * * * *

As for me, I picked up Earth Defense Force 5 during the Steam Thanksgiving sales. I loved 4.1, but 5 improves on so many aspects gameplay wise, such as pick-ups also affecting the other classes somewhat so it is easier to progress. I'm a bit torn on the Wing Diver changes as some of their weapons require to "charge up" instead of simply firing until recharging them with the plasma battery. Also, I don't think Fencer "Dash Canceling" is a thing anymore, although apparently the default Dash can be upgraded with the right gear. Air Raiders though get the best improvements as their calldowns are so much easier to use. I can actually call in air strikes and know exactly what targets I'm going to hit!

Despite the gameplay and slight graphical improvements, 4.1 had the iconic EDF song that got me hooked, and I think the VAs of 4.1 were a bit better. That aside, so far EDF 5 is a great game and I am loving my time with it.
- - - - -
Also, I've been playing Another Eden. It is basically a mobile JRPG that takes inspiration from Chrono Trigger, has a fair monetization model, and has zero pressure on the player. Play when you want, where you want.

I've mostly been going through the sidestories and am trying to upgrade my characters to 5-star status so I can progress easier with the newer content. While grinding the repeatable dungeons sucks (as there is no auto-battle or "sweep/skip" function), the main game itself is excellent.

[Lightcosmo]

7 hours ago, DragonFlames said:

Fair point, but Speed is already the stat to win 'em all (this goes for any game with turn-based combat, really), and having this PCC thing in other Fire Emblem games would make certain units that are now considered bad at least worth consideration, for example, Lyn, Eirika, or FE9!Mia.

I dont think that giving Speed, an already amazing stat, an instant death option, would be "fair". Not that it's not a unique idea, it's just way too broken.

[know_naim]

I'm plowing trough The Alliance Alive right now and am floored how good this gets after chapter 20. 

I had this game on 3DS but didn't play more than a couple of hours, 'cause Nintendo's handheld was so overloaded with good jRPGs. Little did I know how big of a mistake this was. 

Playing the HD remake on Switch and it's my sleeper hit of the year. Because of the presentation I thought of it as a Bravely Default / classic FF clone and it starts fairly linear but like halfway trough it opens up and becomes it's own beast.

There are three aspects I really enjoy about Alliance Alive:

1. The overworld exploration: on the first glance looks like the 3DS Final Fantasy remakes but each continent is actually designed around a gimmicky vehicle you can use. The ornithoper takes the crown of course. I had so much fun climbing peaks and just flying around. Makes me think somebody should do a Pilotwings RPG 😄

2. The colectathon: I love, love, love recruiting and collecting things. Ties in really well with the exploration part, explains the game's title also. You forge alliances with guilds, build towers on specific spots and assing recruits to the guilds, reaping benefits like new gear and more talent point from that. 

3. The completely unclear level up system: I'm over 25hrs into the game and still haven't figured out the level up mechanics. Let's start with the fact that you don't gain experience points. Instead attacks gain power by using them against strong enemies and in the same manner you can awaken new attacks, gain HP points, mana etc. To add to that every move has a different level bar depending on the character's role in your formation (attack/guard/support). Messing around with different formation is also a joy. You've got five active party members! Which I thought is also pretty unusual. 

The enemy designs are lacking and the soundtrack is quite silent (which is a shame, because when there is actual music playing it's awesome), so the game is not without shortcomings. Considering where it came from though, I'd say it's a fantastic effort and way less obscure then Legend of Legacy, battle system wise at least.

Please give it a shot if you like unique jRPGs and remember that it opens up after the first 10 or so hours. 

 

Edited December 7, 2019 by know_naim

[Shrimpica]

Crosscode

A pretty fun little action games with an Inn that was formerly a Pokemon Center and an optional Boss fight that is Sonic the Hedgehog.

FE Hack - Vision Quest

One of the hacks introduced at FEE3. I have been enjoying it so far

Edited December 8, 2019 by Shrimperor

[Lightcosmo]

Still going strong on Xenoblade X. Gosh, this game is fun to casually go through sometimes. I wouldn't say it's super high on my replay list, but it has decent replay value.

I just like to explore and the areas are pretty... pretty, in this game so it makes it more interesting.

[Stroud]

Saga Scarlet Grace, began with Urpinas storyline. I know that this game is a real niche. And Many wouldn't like it. But I love the Saga series, with Saga Frontier 2 and Romancing Saga 2/3 my favorites.

Back to Saga Scarlet Grace, at first it lets you think ok, you are just on the world map. But the game gives quite some decision making in party members and what you do at some time. Still took me a while to get used to the battle system which takes great focus on turn manipulation. Which I absolutely like. 

[DragonFlames]

3rd route of Fairy Fencer f Advent Dark Force is what I'm currently doing.
Pretty much everything I said in my review still applies, but there are some new characters.
One guy apparently wants to be reincarnated as an insect. XD

Also, Fire Emblem Three Houses. Swordmaster Edelgard is busted. She got majorly Defense screwed, though, so she's basically a glass cannon.

Edited December 8, 2019 by DragonFlames

[Lightcosmo]

Playing Shining Resonance: Refrain. Overall, it's pretty fun!

Edit: I've gotten pretty far, and the game is getting a bit tougher now. The difficulty curve is well done.

Edited December 10, 2019 by lightcosmo

[Zapp Branniglenn]

I played Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order. I wasn't intending to buy and play this game, but my brother heard I had Outer Worlds and offered a trade loan. A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. And it's pretty fun! With genre-blending action adventure games such as this one, the comparisons to other games tend to flow like water. You climb things like Uncharted, the level design requires abilities for traversal like in a Metroid game, the experience system is the same as recovering your souls in Dark Souls, and Sekiro's block gauge makes an appearance. One relatively unique design I really like is that you can press a button at any time to ask for a hint on puzzles, and if you forget that feature is there, spending a set amount of time in a puzzle room will show you the prompt. That sounds simple but so few games have thought of it that it's worth pointing out.

There's some issues though. On PS4 Pro the game is very poorly optimized. Running through previous areas will force you through a lot of forced freeze loads, enemies will pop in in front of you, lots of levels rely on elevators to mask loading, and most problematic is the 30+ second loading screen every time you die. The game is fairly challenging on its normal difficulty setting, as well so my greatest fear of death wasn't losing my experience but having to sit at a loading screen. Animations are also janky too. Anything involving swinging on vines tends to snap your character in place even if your aim was excellent to begin with. And there's literally a missing animation for opening chests underwater which any player is bound to notice. It's nothing game breaking but it gives me the suspicion this game was rushed out for the holiday/star wars season. While that may seem par for the course for EA's publishings, this game really isn't like something they'd bank roll in the past. With their money they could push out decent games all the time which is a pretty dream to think about. Even if it was just star wars games, the world deserves more good ones.  

I rate this game an 8.0 out of 10. There's a lot of love in this one, and it could easily have stood as one of the best games this year, but It's desperately in need of some more QA for its animations, load optimizations, and general combat can feel clunky and unresponsive. If I get hit by an attack, and start holding block, it feels like a flip of a coin whether Cal will raise his lightsaber to deflect the next one, so I rely on dodge rolls instead to escape that scenario. And the indicator for unblockable attacks doesn't display on enemies who killed you until you've struck them which feels like an oversight.