Lord Glenn

Depending on which path you take and how "complete" (sidequests, treasures, etc.) you want to make the first playthrough, probably 20-30 hours, I'd presume. (I don't have my save from my first playthrough, so I can't really say with certainty.)

Not bad, I suppose. The closest I ever came to completing a set was with the Berserker's Arsenal. I had the Splint Mail and the Helm on my Merc for the longest time (because with the partial set bonus, it trumped anything else that was dropping), and when I did find an upgrade for both pieces (and subsequently sold them), the Double Axe dropped shortly afterwards. XD Of those, the Hsarus' Defense pieces grant the better bonuses, IMO, so I hope you kept them (or already had better stuff). On that topic, I'm extremely glad that Blizzard is rethinking Set items for Diablo 3. The fact that by the time you even get one piece makes them generally completely useless (higher ilvls, but low required levels and piddly stats, who dreamed that up), so them even thinking about the process is welcome to me. There is that fact, I guess. Perhaps I should have said something more in line with, "might have caused trouble with what experience you had". Oh well.

Lucky. (Unless you're doing this over MP and can trade stuff (i.e. MF stuff) from your other characters, and then it's slightly less lucky.) What were the set/unique items that you snagged? I like the customization aspect with the runes on the skills. Things like bouncing flame skulls seem quite amusing. I just hope that there are a ton of runes to use and that they're not a total pain in the ass to get ones that you want (like in D2). That, and I really hope there are a lot, otherwise trying to make characters feel "different" is going to be really hard, especially since you can only put one rune on each skill at a time. The Council Members? I guess I can see them being difficult for a pure caster. My preferred strategy is simply to run in, pull one or two (max), run back out of range of the Hydra spells (and various other enemies lurking around, assuming you're referring to Travincal, and not the ones down in the Durance of Hate immediately before getting to Mephisto), and wail on them with whatever weapon is more effective of what I have. (Which, in the case of all of the characters I've made through Act 3 (Barbarian, Paladin, Amazon), is generally beating them down right up in their face with my default melee weapon. Unless I happen to have a more effective ranged weapon, that is. (Which is really only the case for my 'Zon...))

In one short word: Yes. Despite what some of the overly devoted of the series as a whole might say, Chrono Cross is an excellent game, which can be played even if you've never touched Chrono Trigger. It took a different approach to what Chrono Trigger did and even shifted CT's main hero to an extremely small side role (which is ballsy, to say the least, given fans in the modern eras of gaming). The story is great and you'll definitely find reasons to play through the game multiple times (as of early December, I've gone through it 5 times or so now, with 4 of those going the entire way to the dead end of the game), since there are different "paths" that you can take (though, you can explore the areas you didn't go to anyway) and new things that you'll progressively pick up on as you play through each time. The music is superb (composed my the famed Yasunori Mitsuda), the character personalities are fairly well designed, and it really has aged quite well. (Either that, or I'm just more in tune with older games than newer ones...)

I'm not really sure of what my feelings for this game are. It kept me enthralled enough to dump over a hundred hours into the game(in total, over two plays - accounting for grinding time + endgame dungeon on the first play - I was sick at the time too, and was basically forced to stay in bed, so there wasn't much else to do), but once you hit both stories, there really isn't much left in the way of replayability aside from simply changing your party around. The story can only go so far, and once you've done both sides, there isn't much of a reason to go through it again. As for non-human characters, most FAQs will probably tell you to get Gruel, J.J., and/or Galvados, since they're basically the "upper echelon" characters, though I've only personally used Galvados, as I chose to go with Romaria as my healer/mage and the final spot was one of the two story characters. (Pre-Galvados, both characters are in the party, until the one leaves.) What I was surprised about was that when doing the endgame dungeon(the one that opens after clearing the game, that is), basically every guide that covered it on the Human path said, "The "final" boss is so hard, that even with tons of berries and the best team (which was recommended as Elwen, Kain, and , IIRC), you can still easily lose this fight." And yet, with my party of Miranda, Fernando, and , I had no problems whatsoever and won on my first try, no less. Unless I just got lucky, the fight really wasn't that hard, which was surprising, given the amount of time one had to invest to get the whole way to the chamber...

(Under the assumption that the following games will come out in '09... - If not, then it doesn't matter anyway.) Bayonetta (Even though it feels overly DMC-ish, the early videos have looked promising) Doom IV (possibly) Wolfenstein (possibly) Splatterhouse (possibly) MadWorld The Conduit (story seems meh, but it might be worth at least a rent) Arc Rise Fantasia (possibly) Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (since I didn't cave and play the ROM and since I've never gotten around to playing the original(s)) Diablo III

As far as I can see, the last mention of the possibility of a 120GB PS3 was back in January/February of last year. I do believe that the 160GB was what was eventually released, not a 120GB model. Also, given the fact that Sony removed the components that could run or emulate PS2 games in order to start turning profits, I doubt they'd put them back in just so people can play PS2 games (and would end up losing more money in the process).

According to Joystiq's recent SKU comparison chart, the 40GB PS3 does not play PS2 games, neither through hardware emulation nor having the actual hardware components.

If you were only using the Wind spell, that might be part of the reason. Wind only gives 1 WEXP per use. If you were using something higher-up for Ilyana, say even an Elthunder tome, then it only makes sense that she'd gain more WEXP because the tome gives more per use. (Elthunder gives 2 WEXP per use, for instance.) Also, considering the fact that Soren generally has an huge Magic stat, it's also entirely possible that he takes enemies down in 1 hit with Wind, while it might take Ilyana two hits to kill something with the spell she was using. This could also have contributed to the lack of a high Wind rank.

And the point of this post is...? Either put some relevant content in your post, or don't bother posting to begin with.

Servers have hiccups. Downtime will happen, and usually resolve itself once the hosts rectify the problems. You just have to wait and do other things until then. (And, yes, there was downtime earlier this morning (from at least 10 AM EST to 12 PM EST), because I couldn't get on either.) However, it could also be related to the incorrect date/time. (Seeing as this is the second time that IPB has thought the date was several days in advance, I'm starting to wonder if something's up...)

As I've said before, then don't post. Period. Next time you make a spam post, I'll personally give you a short "vacation" from here, seeing as you apparently can't follow instructions very well. While you're right, that's something that the staff should handle. ---------------- I'm from near Pittsburgh, so I'll obviously be rooting for the Steelers. Our prospects probably don't look that great, seeing as we'll either be playing Miami or the winner of the Indianapolis/San Diego game, but I'll still cheer the team on anyway. As for predictions... I don't follow the NFC much, but I'll say that it comes down to Carolina and Philly in the NFC Championship game (with Carolina winning). (The Giants have been faltering the past few games, so I'm not sold on them getting to the Championship game.) For the AFC, I'll say that it comes down to Tennessee and either Indy or Pittsburgh. (I figure that Baltimore will beat Miami, but Tennessee will beat Baltimore, as they should be able to force Flacco to make mistakes to their advantage. Indy will beat San Diego, so it becomes a toss-up between the hot Colts and the Steelers (which, I find too close to call, since their meeting during the season was as much a fluke win as the Giants win over the Steelers two weeks before it...).) Super Bowl Champs? Depending on the AFC team, it's either Carolina(if v. Indy/Pittsburgh) or Tennessee.

It's a result of the downtime and subsequent "reset" of the forum's time to January 5th (at whatever time on that day). Once posts are made that jump ahead of it by timestamp, it'll get moved down.

They may have barely won, but they still won, didn't they? Plus, given the Wild Card round bye as a means of getting a bit of rest, I certainly think that if the Steelers and Ravens meet in the AFC Championship game, the Steelers will be in fairly good shape and be able to both be banged up by the Ravens and bang them up in the process. (Sure, they would want to avoid playing Baltimore again for a third time, because the games are always extremely physical (and I'm sure that the Ravens would love to avoid playing Pittsburgh for a third time as well), but in a toss-up between a team that you've beaten twice before and a team that you lost to for sole ownership of the #1 seed? I'd take the team that I've beaten twice already, thanks.)

The only class(es) that get an overabundance of Resistance (easily, and without tons of unique loot) are Paladins, simply because of their (cheap, IMO) Paladin-only shields (Auras help in that regard, too) and maybe Barbarians (if they choose to drop points into Natural Resistance). Yes, as you get higher in levels, Rune Words and such play into effect, but for the meat of the game (at least through Act 5 Nightmare, and possibly further), those aren't viable options. Most of the armor/items that add resistance (and can be bought) are vastly inferior to what you're probably already wearing, there isn't much sense to swap what you have to things that are worse. The other aspect of what you say is purely luck. Not only does a Rare/Unique/etc. have to drop in the first place, but the odds of it being something useful in that manner aren't overly high. Especially when your characters is only Level 28 (as is in this example). That brings up a few other points: How is it that people can solo Acts 2, 3, 4, and 5 at absurdly low levels? I was at least mid-40s by the time I was even able to get through Act 4 to get to Diablo, and I had to grind to the upper 40s-early 50s to take him and Baal out, in Normal no less. (I was 60 or so when I got to Mephisto in Nightmare and around 70 when I was actually able to finish off Nightmare...) If I even try to take on The Summoner of all people at the mid-20s, I get destroyed. The same applies even more to Duriel, the Council of Travincal/Durance of Hate, Mephisto, Diablo, etc. I find it impossible playing only by myself to take on these bosses at such low levels (without dying extremely frequently...). And, on the subject of Paladin-only shields, did anyone else ever get inherently annoyed at the fact that Blizzard screws over the class-specific items at resale? (Yeah, I'll sell this Jared's Stone to you for 8000G... You want to sell this back to me for 250000G? Are you nuts?) It's almost like they don't want you to even bother picking them up unless you expressly need the skill/stat bonuses that they give you...

I liked the concept of items/weapons granting skills to classes that didn't have them originally. It was certainly more interesting than items that only gave skills to the classes that could use them. (Not including things like Scepters/Wands/Staves, as it makes sense to have the skills only for Paladins/Necromancers/Sorceresses.) I'd rather have an item grant +2 to Whirlwind that any class can use than a [barbarian only] tag at the end of it, because that means that the weapon/item is really only useful for Barbarians (and the odds of getting it are small anyway). Plus, Enigma was broken anyway. (And, we don't really have to worry about that, since Rune Words are gone in D3...)

Pittsburgh's (convincing) loss to Tennessee in Week 16 would argue differently to that statement. Sure, it could have just been an off-game for Pittsburgh, or they could have just not cared as much about being the 1st seed in the AFC (since they were already set as the 2nd seed - though, they still should have been playing to their full ability...), but I'm not sure I'd say that Pittsburgh's the toughest team in the AFC. Given that Baltimore about has their game wrapped up (barring something like a couple of fluke fumbles that get returned to the house), I think Pittsburgh/San Diego will be more one-sided than it was the previous time they met (injuries, etc.) and I think that Pittsburgh will beat them handily. Part of me wants Baltimore to beat Tennessee, that way we get an AFC North matchup in the Championship game (and because I know that Pittsburgh can beat them...), but a rematch against Tennessee would be welcome too, I suppose.

Considering there was already a Tales of series thread, this discussion could have been placed there. As such, please continue over to that topic if you wish to further discuss this. Locking.

The Falcons lost to the Cardinals prior to San Diego's victory over the Colts. Also, I guess the Chargers winning pretty much blows my predictions out of the water. (Baltimore will win today, Tennessee will beat Baltimore, Pittsburgh will beat San Diego, Carolina still wins out in the NFC, and it goes down to Carolina winning if the Steelers beat Tennessee, or Tennessee winning if Tennessee beats the Steelers.)

With my limited scope: FE4: Tron FE6: Forblaze FE7: Fimbulvetr FE8: Ivaldi FE9: Rexaura/Thorron FE10: Rexcalibur Overall favorite: Probably Ivaldi, in terms of impressiveness. While Aureola may be a unique Light animation, I personally think that Ivaldi's animation is... different enough from all of the other Light spells to warrant it. FE10!Rexcalibur comes in a close second, just because it's awesome.

Obviously not. The current patch only goes up to 29x or something around there. (I know his hacking progress is finished through 29x.) Now that he's got ASD started and the trailer video done, he'll be back to work on finishing Eliwood's Mode in the near future. (Though, the game won't "technically" be done until all of the modes are finished...)

They're trying to include a "respeccing" concept like what's in World of Warcraft, but they haven't gotten around to trying to implement it yet. No, the Passive skills are only for each class, as they're designed to benefit that class, regardless of the tree it's in (so you can dump points into them to get further down a tree to skills you need). The current system is a "simplified" version of the D2 interface, but I have to agree with the designers when they said (at the Blizzcon panels) that players end up with too many skills (which also wasn't helped by the fact that the special Blizzcon build was designed so that you couldn't spend deep into one specific skill, which they're planning to change). Because of that, it just doesn't seem like tried and true Diablo to me (with "limited" skills, as spending deep was a good thing, thus limiting how many points you had for other skills), at least not yet.

It just doesn't feel... Diablo-like to me. From what they said during the Blizzcon panels, it seems like we're going to be relying on a ton of passive skills just to get to the ones that we want to dump points into (which helps if you really don't like the other skills in the tree, but synergy bonuses are going to be hard to come by then...), not leaving much variety in what little attacks we'll end up having. I mean, what they said at Blizzcon didn't seem finalized yet, but it just doesn't feel right to me. They didn't necessarily drop the Necromancer for the Witch Doctor. The Witch Doctor incorporates some of the ideas/concepts of the Necromancer, but it certainly isn't the Necromancer. Yes, there probably will be some class that works like a Paladin, it just won't be a Paladin (which is good, because we all know how (overly) powerful Hammerdins were...).

I'm "excited," I suppose. Blizzard has never really been a let-down when it comes to the quality of their games, so I figure that the game will likely at least be playable in some shape or form. From the images and videos that they've shown so far, it looks interesting, at least enough to keep it in my mind. Unless it seems like Blizzard has really screwed something up about the game (which, right now, I'm only leery about the new Skill system (assuming their current idea stays)), it'll probably be one of the next PC games that I buy. (Assuming I'll be able to run it, that is...) As for characters, with what we've seen right now, I'd be playing a Barbarian, just because the Witch Doctor and Wizard don't do much at all for me. I really have no expectations for classes, because Blizzard'll give us what we get, so there isn't much use trying to come up with something. (And, they've said that none of the "old" classes will be returning in this one verbatim (spiritual successors aside), unless they appear in a future expansion set. So, I don't really know what they'll do for the other two classes that are left.)

Yes. The background color actually isn't even seen, because it's transparent, but it does have to be accounted for.