What games are you playing now?

[Guitar (pseudo)God]

My baby is tube-fed through the night. During the hours from when it starts to when I go to bed, I'll sit with the iPad and play the mobile iterations of the FF series. I've completed them all. So I see Romancing Saga 2 in the store. I have fond memories of Romancing Saga 3 and Saga Frontier (warts and all), and this game had a generation system. I decided to give it a shot.

It's like Phantasy Star III and the SaGa series had Rosemary's Baby. I have no goddamn idea about the mechanics of this game. I put a party together. When I got to the first slime boss, I realized I needed a mage. Okay, so back to the castle. Can't change the party - the hell? I have to kill off a party member to add somebody else? Ain't nobody got time for that.

After trial and error -- and a brief FAQ perusal -- I have an idea of the game's systems. No clue how techs spark or what the hell global levels are, but I'm plowing through battles with ease. My party of a Holy something-or-other, the 3rd generation Emperor, a wind/water mage, a spear user, and a monk are laying waste to even the toughest dungeons.

Then I hit Dantarg. This series is known for wild-ass difficulty spikes, but this is something else. And he's in a one-way dungeon to boot.

Yeah, fuck this game.

 

[AnGer-dono]

Elite Beat Agents (aka the western versio of Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan.)

Just... <3

 

[Sgtsarge]

I'm currently playing through Catherine on my PS3. It's a game i've wanted to play for years now and it's probably been one of the best games i've played where you make moral decisions. Very ambiguous and really makes you think about what choices to make. The block puzzles are a lot more difficult than i was expecting also, quite a unique game! I'm also carrying onto play KH Unchained X (I ended up watching the story translations on youtube to catch up, looking forward to back cover now) and am a few hours into Final Fantasy VI on my phone. Trying to whittle down the days until the release of Playstation VR and FFXV.

 

[ScienceNonfiction]

KH Unchained X

Careful, it's addicting!

 

[Guitar (pseudo)God]

I decided to give Romancing Saga 2 another shot after one of the 7 Heroes laid waste to my party. I finally bit the bullet and let another emperor ascend to avenge my foul and most unnatural murder. Turns out, this is what the game wants you to do. The best formations and techs in the game come from emperor experimentation. All global levels and items carry over, so there really isn't too much of a penalty, though you will need to re-spark skills.

The next emperor was a monk, and he came with a battle formation that tied everyone's speed to his. The random encounter difficulty went down considerably, even as the enemies scaled upwards. Good thing too - most enemies can one-shot all characters, and LP is at a premium in this game. But this party fell when Rocbouquet trapped me against an unwinnable fight against a stone guardian boss.

But I was able to build the Magic Lab and the Academy. And magic is INSANELY useful in this game. The Academy unlocks the best mage class in the game.

The next emperor was a pirate, and she taught the most abusive formation in the game. Everyone, regardless of class, goes before the enemies. Of course, if this formation is broken, by surprise attack or a character dying, it will royally (heh) suck.

Other observations:

• In yet another Saga tradition, physical defense is damn near useless. Magic resistance and status immunity is far more useful.
• When a character says that "I'm good with X", that means "only use X".
• Bows, clubs, epees, and martial arts were, at best, situational usages. Swords, axes, and spears were my weapons of choice, but mostly I casted everything to death.
• There's a bonus dungeon that unlocks very early in the game. It's not very difficult. The blue path gets the parts for the Seven Sword (FFLII vets remember this one) AND skill/item drop enhancers. The red path nets the Ninja job class, which is very overpowered.
• All magic is useful up to level 15-ish, so you can unlock fusion spells. But above that, I found only Light and Water were worth going above that. The ultimate Light spell is a massive AoE attack. The Last water spell is Hasten Time. It costs 36 MP to cast(!), but it cancels enemy actions after its casted. Of course, if you have a formation that ensures you go before any enemies act...I had no qualms about abusing Rapid Stream/Hasten Time, especially against Dantarg. And Wagnas. That guy sucked.
• The bard side quest is nostalgic for those of us who grew up with the FFL Game Boy games. And it ultimately unlocks a hidden village that reveals more of the lore of the game.
• The final boss - whew. That thing requires mastery of all the systems of the game. I tried to fight it straight up, but it gets progressively more powerful. Finally, I settled on a "strategy" of two water magic users and surviving until form 4, then Hasten Time-ing it to death.

So glad I gave it another shot. It's a charming and very surprisingly deep game. Plus I can't be too mad at a game that let me be a lizard Emperor for 3 straight generations.

 

[Lulcielid]

I´m playing FFV for the first time and I´ve been stuck on the same boss fight for days.

Spoiler

The F***ING Garula >.>

 

[Guitar (pseudo)God]

I´m playing FFV for the first time and I´ve been stuck on the same boss fight for days.

Spoiler

The F***ING Garula >.>

Part of the fun (and frustration) of FFV is figuring out party and job synergies.

Spoiler

IIRC, there's a couple of easy ways to handle that fight. There's an ice rod you could have gotten in the town prior. Breaking that rod will one-shot it (though you may want to save it.) I haven't replayed it in a while (though my 10-year-old is going through it right now), but I used monks to brace and counter, and kept them alive with white mages.

 

[Lulcielid]

Spoiler

IIRC, there's a couple of easy ways to handle that fight. There's an ice rod you could have gotten in the town prior. Breaking that rod will one-shot it (though you may want to save it.) I haven't replayed it in a while (though my 10-year-old is going through it right now), but I used monks to brace and counter, and kept them alive with white mages.

Is it on a shop of a hiden chest?

 

[Guitar (pseudo)God]

Is it on a shop of a hiden chest?

Spoiler

It's the port town, right before the North Mountain section. There's a rod in a chest near one of the docks. Make sure to play the piano while you're there too.

 

[AnGer-dono]

Still EBA with some Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai sprinkled inbetween. On PC, busy with Aselia the Eternal and Sora no Kiseki 1st.

 

[Sgtsarge]

Careful, it's addicting!

Definitely, probably the most amount of time i've sunk into a mobile game!

 

[ScienceNonfiction]

I´m playing FFV for the first time and I´ve been stuck on the same boss fight for days.

Spoiler

The F***ING Garula >.>

Nice, one of my top FF games. I think I'd rank it as my second favorite. Such an underrated gem.

And oh man, if you think that's bad just wait until all the other random difficulty spikes like

Spoiler: no story spoilers, just place names and boss names, thought I'd tag it just in case

the airship cannons, atomos, and the pyramid. Oh lord, the pyramid. I was stuck there for so long.

If you're having a lot of trouble, one of the best places to level up jobs is in the basement of Val (or Bal, depending on which translation you're playing) Castle. Though you still have quite a way to go until you get there.

Definitely, probably the most amount of time i've sunk into a mobile game!

Same here! I've played it nearly every day for about 3 months now. Actually I recently stopped playing cause I'm completely walled right now on the mission where you have to defeat Cerberus (mission 314 I think). But I still log in every day for the free jewels.

 

[Guitar (pseudo)God]

Nice, one of my top FF games. I think I'd rank it as my second favorite. Such an underrated gem.

And oh man, if you think that's bad just wait until all the other random difficulty spikes like

Spoiler: no story spoilers, just place names and boss names, thought I'd tag it just in case

the airship cannons, atomos, and the pyramid. Oh lord, the pyramid. I was stuck there for so long.

Spoiler: Same as above

Omega, Shinyru, Wendigo, and the final boss also hit hard. But the game is rather simple once you figure out the job system. And speaking of the Pyramid at Moore, bards, in this game, are very powerful. Ain't no Edwards in this game.

 

[Chocobocoholic]

Valkyria Chronicles on PS4. I used to have this game on PS3 but I got stuck, rage quit and traded it in. When it went on a digital sale I bought it again, and I've just got to the part where I was before. I attempted the fight last night and lost...I was so close >.>

 

[Shin Kazama]

Playing ReCore. I'm enjoying it quite a bit so far, but it seems like everyone did for the first few hours so... we'll see.

 

[ChingleeTribal]

Got my hand on the potential GOTY: Dragon Quest VII for 3DS.

On my way home. Have 2 days off and this game will be taking all my time!

Goodbye real world. Goodbye social life.

 

[Guitar (pseudo)God]

Got my hand on the potential GOTY: Dragon Quest VII for 3DS.

On my way home. Have 2 days off and this game will be taking all my time!

Goodbye real world. Goodbye social life.

I remember the original version. "Tedious" doesn't begin to describe my experience with it. The DQ games are always a slow burn - vignettes that slowly meld into a larger story. For me, DQ4, 5, and 8 pull this off with aplomb. I've heard the pacing changes streamline the game somewhat, so I'll be interested in your feedback.

 

[BladeRunner]

With all the Persona 5 hype and whole 5 months until western release, I decided to start Persona 3 for the first time. It's okay so far but everything feels pretty rough compared to P4 (unsurprisingly).

Also, in preparation for SMT4: Apocalypse, I wanted to replay the last part of SMT4 and get the neutral ending. Last time I got locked in the Law route and this time I ended up... too neutral for neutral. lol screw this game I'll just youtube the ending.

 

[Chocobocoholic]

As well as Valkyria Chronicles I've also just started Gravity Rush Remastered. It was under a tenner on PSN with PS+ so I was like "oh, go on then". I did used to have it for Vita but I only got to play it for a short while as my Vita got stolen with the game in it. I still haven't spent much time with it yet though. I must.

 

[ChingleeTribal]

I tried playing Watch Dogs. First time I've ever felt physically sick while playing a game. I just couldn't take the blandness of the characters and the story and the shallowness. Made my stomach turn and made me feel depressed.

Then I made the mistake of watching the Watch Dogs 2 trailer to see if they might have put some heart and passion into it this time.
....Good God was it bad. The characters made me wince with a cemented look of disgust on my face. The music so droning and dead. The voice acting so generic movie like. The dialogue the same. The generic douchbag villain who does yoga and says namasteey or whatever. Its like ubi were thinking "what do shitty spoilt rebel wanabee teenaagers like nowadays?" and made a concocsion of all the trendy crap we have today. Maybe all this hipster stuff is just more exaggerated since I'm just getting older or something?