Games you are playing

[scy]

Scott Moffitt as NoA's new Executive VP (of Sales and Marketing). Guess he'll be at E3 doing what Cammie did the last few years.

Hopefully without the godawful and terrible.

Anyway, been playing Z.H.P. while putting off finishing Trails in the Sky (final dungeon is all I have left but cliffhangerrrrrr). Z.H.P. is ... alright, I guess. Grinding in it is probably the most boring it's even been in an NIS game and with what feels like the worst return on investment they've had yet.

But ... I haven't done any item maxing so who knows how more-or-less tedious that is. Just been grinding away at 9999 Cinders in what feels like an eternity, especially without the gear to make it possible to just start beating on 9999 Cinders.

Ugh ... my PC parts finally shipped today so now it's just waiting for the case to ship. And then for everything to arrive. Feels like an agony since I'm actually without a computer (well, I have a Laptop I'm borrowing that's hooked up to my TV) and have a few games waiting. Plus, The Witcher 2 comes out soon.

[Drathi]

Just started Minecraft and am thinking maybe multiplayer will be ridiculously fun to do with friends... I need to find friends who have a multiplayer server. XD

[Drathi]

[spoiler][/spoiler]

First thing I see right after I spawn... Shortly after this screenshot was made, I was attackd a by a mob of burning skeletons that spawned from inside the shade of the landform.

[SirthOsiris]

Brink is getting released tonight. Won't be buying it until it's cheaper, though; maybe I'll ask for Christmas.

Don't know how much of a fan of FPS I am, but that one really interested me for some reason. I guess it's mostly how much they're trying to immerse you more than any other shooter, and while making it highly cooperative.

[Illuminage]

Tales of Rebirth, Unknown Modo run, may attempt at a Veigue solo.

Oh, and finishing Atelier Iris 2. I thoroughly enjoyed the game from start to finish. When I do complete the game, I'm going to play the first one again.

I'm trying to decide if I should buy Tale of the Last Promise or not. I mean, it is going to get localized by NiSA...or say they say. I'm quite impatient as I've been following news about this game for a long time...it looks great.

[noodles]

[SirthOsiris]

Think it's about customizing: your own character; your gun; how you operate (goes with customizing your size; think TF2's class-based gameplay); what you do (various missions that help your side); and even your political thoughts (are you for the poor trying to be free, or the rich just trying to have peace? I think there might be more to it than that. It's not good vs. evil, I'll tell you that; they tried to make both sides good, but evil in the context of the opposite side). It's a simple idea, but I think there's some real thought to the story. Customization is also based more on how much you play (you get experience), and you get to change everything. Except gender, which was apparently nixed early so they could work on gameplay.
It just seems a little more than a singular god-character(s) versus an army of aliens. Or a reenactment of a previous military engagement.

Also, if you ever found a cliff you wanted to try and get to, but you don't see a simple way to do it, this game allows it.

[ZetaBladeX13]

[Trifkin]

I started playing Portal last night for the first time. ( I know, I know, kind of behind the times I am ^ ^;;; )

I LOVE IT. Didn't realize what I'd been missing out on! I absolutely adore it.

@Scy - : O You're playing Trails in the Sky? I've heard of it and want to play it! I'm a pretty huge Falcom fangirl. What do you think of it?

[ZetaBladeX13]

[Weeaboolits]

[scy]

Eh, I'm probably the opposite of that. The Ys series is easily not as good as Trails in the Sky to me (and sales show it too as Japan is all over this shit). And I say that as quite the ARPG fan. The Kiseki series just has so much more character and soul in it than the Ys series, though I haven't played too many Ys games (4, though only Oath to completion).

Quite frankly, if you own a PSP and enjoy RPGs and you don't own TitS, then you're doing something wrong with your life. More so if you enjoyed games like Grandia and Lunar where the journey and sense of adventure was a character of the game itself and not a means to the plot.

That out of the way, combat is a bit boring after awhile and the magic system is lovely but a bit shallow. Considering the age of the game, though, one can't really complain too much, I suppose. Can't really use "it's old!" as a defense since it is a recent release.

It's also really easy, though there's a Nightmare mode for subsequent playthroughs that is supposed to be harder (to the point of early enemies two shotting you ... in the tutorial dungeon). The ease of the game may also be due to me gaming the system a bit (learn White Gehenna, care not for 80% of the game as it one-shots everything) but it's generally never that difficult.

Basically, the gameplay is a bit lacking in depth/excitement but the personality of the game (characters, world, etc.) more than makes up for it. It's easily the best RPG I've played in quite awhile and that includes a period that also has Radiant Historia.

I'm very much on board with Falcom on making the Kiseki series their new flagship series.

[spoiler]Thing to note on TitS: Basically every event in the game changes the NPCs in the game world. If you're OCD enough, each NPC has something going on that you can follow a storyline of that is basically irrelevant to the game plot.

I personally hate talking to NPCs but I found myself actually running around talking to NPCs for no reason besides these little details; I'm even a bit sad that I missed a few throughout the game such as an entire series of events with another Bracer that I completely missed ... and she becomes part of the story later. The initial meeting isn't that big of a deal but it's some fleshing out of her character that they don't really do later. [/spoiler]

[Illuminage]

Wow...so I'm not the only one that likes Sora no Kiseki and Zero no Kiseki over everything Ys? Sweet.

...which reminds me I have to finish Zero no Kiseki before Ao no Kiseki hits 'round September. Dat drama CD and dat Elie nendroid. <3

[scy]

Basically, I enjoyed playing the Ys games due to what I was doing in the game being fun. But outside of that, the games didn't do much for me (and I blame like 99% of it on Adol being a bland as fuck silent protagonist).

I enjoyed every last bit of Trails in the Sky. It's a downright fun game with a tale that is somehow utterly engrossing without actually being too serious (despite my earlier objections at it missing opportunities to be sinister); enjoyable characters that carry the narrative rather than serve as mere tools to an end. It has life and charm. A better total package of a game.

Plus, you know, the fact it's an "epic" tale spanning multiple games. Something about that just gets me all hot and bothered and makes me weep more at the lack of a Suikoden VI ohgodtangentgettingdepressed/wrists.

[beekee]