Video Games

[JonSetanta]

Playing Brawl almost every weekend. Fun times.

[Cynic]

Sometimes the simplest games are the most fun. I've been playing this for the last hour.

[angelfromanotherpin]

That's just a lame rip of Canabalt.

[Meikle641]

So I finally beat FEAR and I have to say it was pretty fucking good. I enjoyed the enemy AI, but my friend tells me it'll be even better on the hardest mode, so I'll get on that later.

Also, the Penetrator rifle in it is awesome. Seeming bodies pinned/crucified to walls after I shoot them is pretty cool. Did it to one Replica trooper (who lived) who proceded to swear and explain he's stuck at his teammate when he was told to advance.

<3 the weapons in this game.

[Maxus]

I got Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2 for my birthday (That title's a mouthful.)

Looks like my bus rides just got booked solid.

[DragonChild]

I got Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2 for my birthday (That title's a mouthful.)

Looks like my bus rides just got booked solid.

Good game. I've been replaying it myself on hard, recently.

[Maxus]

Any advice? I have Tactics Advance around here somewhere, and need to dig it up to get that bonus...

[JonSetanta]

I'm still re-playing the first one for PS1. Did it back in high school, got stuck fighting the 4-armed zodiac demon guy since Ramza was a Black Mage and ran out of mana/I didn't level grind enough/only save file was right before the boss battle.

This time Ramza is a monk, I keep a backup save, and have been easily doing at least 10x more random encounters than story battles. I think the game was designed that way.

[DragonChild]

Any advice? I have Tactics Advance around here somewhere, and need to dig it up to get that bonus...

First - go through the story until a new Hume character joins you. Then kick out your old generic Hume and use her, instead. She's the fastest character in the game and pretty cool.

Second- Learn the AP Up 3 law bonus ASAP. It makes you go from 30 AP per fight to 90 per fight. You learn abilities super fast.You get it from doing Negotiation-Teamwork clan trials. IIRC, each difficulty gives its own power, but you have to get them in order. So if you do rank 4, then rank 4, you still get the first two powers that you could have gotten from Rank 1 then Rank 1. If that makes sense?

But seriously, it's triple fucking ability XP. It makes the game FAR more enjoyable.

Humes - These guys have a lot of good choices. They make good casters with black/white/blue magic, can eventually get amazing Illusionist spells and combos, and the Paladin/Fighter combo is as powerful as ever from A1. You're going to want to give them 4 Thief abilities ASAP so they can become Ninja as soon you get the katana that gives you dual-wield. Otherwise, I suggest having one Hume go for the fighter/paladin route, and the other go the caster route.

Viera - Elementalist/Red Mage is my favorite Viera combo. Elementalist magic is AWESOME, and Red Magic just gives you sweet versatility. Eventually, you'll want to replace the Red Magic with summoning magic for the elementalist. Otherwise, go straight for Assassin which is still badass.

Bangaa- Lots of paths here. Dragoon/Templar wields a spear, casts Haste, has jump, and three elemental breaths. Defender/White Monk is just a beast damage-wise who uses the White Monk abilities for ranged stuff, but is slow as fuck. Gladiator/White Monk isn't a bad combo, either Cannoneer or Trickster are just amazing classes on their own, and turn a Bangaa into a super sniper.

Nu Mou - Black or White magic to Sage is your best bet. Personally I prefer black, as then you have a character who can attack with like 6 different elementals all for major damage.

Moogle- Moogle Knight is a surprisingly awesome class. Good stats, good item use, and can get a lot of nice items that give sweet abilities early on, and has Moogle Lance, the Air Render for moogles. There's not enough caster classes to make that path worthwhile, but the Juggler class is also very awesome - ranged attacks that deal respectable damage AND either disable or confuse, christ. Going the gunner path is also a good choice. Stay away from Tinker and Animist, they're not worth the fuss.

Seeq- If you can get one early, these guys make AMAZING snipers. Huge attack power + bows for ranger class is awesome.


Overall, I find the game pretty easy. Even on hard mode, once you get past the initial 20 or so quests, you seem to just steamroll everything.

[DragonChild]

I'm still re-playing the first one for PS1. Did it back in high school, got stuck fighting the 4-armed zodiac demon guy since Ramza was a Black Mage and ran out of mana/I didn't level grind enough/only save file was right before the boss battle.

This time Ramza is a monk, I keep a backup save, and have been easily doing at least 10x more random encounters than story battles. I think the game was designed that way.

Advice:

The damage formula for most attacks is WP*AP.
The damage formula for monk attacks is WP*WP*Brave.

Use Ramza's brave boost ability (it gives him +4 Brave this fight, but +1 Brave PERMANENTLY) to level it up in battles. Get it to like 90+, or as high as you have patience to make it go. Then see how super easy it is to stack WP. You can get +3 from accessories, more from armor, more from hats, etc. But Martial Arts on a ninja and laugh as Ramza one-shots everything.

[Akula]

Viera - Elementalist/Red Mage is my favorite Viera combo. Elementalist magic is AWESOME, and Red Magic just gives you sweet versatility. Eventually, you'll want to replace the Red Magic with summoning magic for the elementalist. Otherwise, go straight for Assassin which is still badass.

Assassin isn't as good as FFTA1. My favorite Viera combo was the HP casting ability+doublecast+summoner. Heal your team with one cast and summon something badass with the other. (Second one to heal, so you can cast infinitely.)

[Lago PARANOIA]

I could never get into FFTA.

For one, I couldn't hide my crushing despair and disappointment that rather than continuing the story they had in FFT or setting up this game as a prequel or having the game have ANYTHING to do with that game they decided to make their own thing and just call it Final Fantasy Tactics.

Secondly, the racial segregation. Fuck you. If I want to make a Hume Red Mage fucking let me. Don't give me this fake diversity BS.

Thirdly, the law system. I hate the idea behind this. It's both immersion-breaking and exploitable.

[Maxus]

I've heard a lot of people bitch about how "It's not FFT!"

Well, hey, sorry about that. I'm sure FFT was an awesome game and all. This isn't it. Get over it and play the game that's in front of you on its own merits.

The racial thing...eh, it didn't exactly bother me. It just means I'm going around killing people as Team Diversity (TM). Or, my back-up squad, Team Bunnygirl. Because assassins and summoners and red mages rock. But I understand your point and, yes, it is a valid point to have.

I will say the Law system in A2 is a lot better. As long as you -don't- break the law, you get a benefit chosen at the beginning of the battle, like a speed boost for all characters or extra AP, and you get extra loot at the end of the battle.

If you do break the law, you lose those and anyone who goes down, stays down until the end of the battle. No jail. No after-battle penalty.

And, wait a sec. Exploitable? Dude, your only option was the Law Cards. The laws would -never- fuck over your enemies. But you could go for a random monster encounter and get that damn law forbidding damage to animals. One time I was up against a Viera team where three of them used bows of one kind or another. I had a law card for that specifically, so I whipped it out. They got yellow-carded a lot but never sent to jail.

[Leress]

Well, hey, sorry about that. I'm sure FFT was an awesome game and all. This isn't it. Get over it and play the game that's in front of you on its own merits.

You are right this isn't an awesome game. It was too easy, but it had so much dumb shit going on be it the badly done story or the bad execution of the law system, it made my head spin. Is it the worst SRPG I've played, no that would be Eternal Eyes, but it is definitely one I won't be playing again.

[name_here]

So apparently ME3 has a release date now

I have to say, I'm not terribly happy with the trailer. It just doesn't make much sense. "Reports are coming in from all major cities" wait, isn't the bit where several dreadnoughts, carriers, and associated battlegroups are dead a pretty clear sign of how badly you are screwed?

[Avoraciopoctules]

http://forums.datarealms.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=19867

Cortex Command is slated for an official update this month. I am quite pleased. Also, looks like Minecraft's price is going up in around a week. Fighting temptation to find someone who does e-commerce and offer them 1.5 times the actual price in cash for a copy.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/vi ... Price-Hike

[Zinegata]

I am currently playing World of Tanks.

The Soviet tanks almost makes one want to believe in the inevitable triumph of communism.

[Severian]

Right now I'm playing Thief: The Dark Project.

Still one of the best games ever made, even at twelve years old.

[Blasted]

Right now I'm playing Thief: The Dark Project.

Still one of the best games ever made, even at twelve years old.

That was an awesome game. Something in my hazy memory says that it's not friendly to newer versions of windows.
What/how are you running it?

[Severian]

That was an awesome game. Something in my hazy memory says that it's not friendly to newer versions of windows.
What/how are you running it?

I just followed these instructions: http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=131046

The cutscenes are autoskipped, but you can just watch them on youtube and it works fine.

The ME3 trailer... I can't say I'm not disappointed, but is anyone honestly surprised? This degree of cliche is standard for Bioware.

[Kaelik]

Wait, so is there anyone here who like, actually likes Mass Effect a lot.

I'm not saying it's not you know, better than something shitty, but it's merely okay at the best of times, and lots of bull to wade through. Who even cares if they come out with a three or if it's as bad as the other two?

[cthulhu]

I like Mass Effect 2 - it's a bit short but it's pretty crisp and engaging.

Mass effect 1 is pretty good except for the stupid tank and some samey side missions.

[Sarandosil]

I liked the first one quite a bit, more than the second one. Don't have much hope for the third.

[Parthenon]

I really enjoyed both Mass Effects. Disappointed in many ways, such as the copy-paste of buildings, barren landscapes, and samey weapons of the first, and the lack of weapon choice, nonsensical plot and the probes replacing exploring the planet of the second. But still enjoyable, even if I'm never going to play them again.

I am looking forward to the third, mostly to see how they change the gameplay again and how they deal with Shepherd being possibly dead. Again. But the plot I really don't give a shit about.

[name_here]

I liked the first one a great deal, while I liked the second one whenever Mordin, Garrus, Legion and Samara were talking.