What is the last video game you played?

[King Mark 3,631]

Hmm, I'm kind of pissed I wasted 10$ for an utterly useless Darksiders 2 DLC that lasted exactly 45 minutes... I should have read reviews first

[King Mark 3,631]

Next Game: Mugen Souls for PS3

[Quintus 5,399]

I'm currently maiming and beheading others while being frequently garroted myself in Chivalry Medieval Warfare.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Next Game: Mugen Souls for PS3

I assume you eventually created a PSN since I recall you talking about buying DLC?

[King Mark 3,631]

Nope. I'll just play whatever's on the disk

Most of these "item pack" DLCs is basically cheating

I regret downloading the free armor pack in Darksiders 2 because it made the first 1/3 of the game too easy and made every loot in the chests useless for a while

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Well I wasn't talking about those. I agree those types of DLC defeat the purpose of playing. EA games in particular, like Need For Speed, have DLCs that unlock everything for you. Either way I thought you said you bought Mass Effect DLC or something like that.

The gist of my post was to add you on the PSN. I started playing Ni No Kuni again, and the constant battles are starting to get on my nerves. I'm trying to avoid them as much as possible. I'm always eagerly waiting until I unlock fast travel. I know those sewer lids are it, but it keeps saying I'll get to use them one day...

[King Mark 3,631]

it's not the sewer lids..thye're something else. You get Fast Travel in the third major city (after the desert part), or maybe a bit sooner...I forget but it takes awhile. And you get a bunch of other means to travel too. You don 't even have your 3 character party yet either. Those battles alone at the beginning are a pain

I swear later in the game every enemy runs away and you have to CATCH them. But every JRPG is about endless battles so this one is no different.

And there is one thing you need to know if you don't want to spend a year playing to level up your characters and familiars. You have to hunt down a specific type of monster later that gives you many times more XP than regular mobs (like 9000xp vs 300xp) to level up...but you can't reach that area yet. And that monster runs away from the battlefield after 2 turns

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Interesting. I'm in the desert area now. I got Esther and her dad in my party and I'm supposed to go do the trials. I did a couple side quests first though and that's where I stopped for now.

[King Mark 3,631]

well,I think it's better to do ALL the sidequests as they become available. You unlock really usefull perks.

oh and also,your given familiars become useless later on and you have to get better ones. And you better mutate them all the way to the 3rd form or you'll have a hard time in later dungeons.

In JRPG's it's almost mandatory to read online guides as far as equipment and monster stats go, and for this ones not to waste your time leveling up a familiar that sucks

In the hills south of the desert..catch a cat creature for Oliver

[Koray Savas 2,251]

You can mutate them? I only use the first one you get. All the others are shit.

[King Mark 3,631]

You can catch any monster you want and you can metamorphose them to a better form once they reach a certain level . Some are waaay better than Mitey. But the monkey is good to keep for the 3rd character

I recommend for this game to get the ones with high ATTACK and fast movement/attack speed. Magic (except healing) is not so useful in this game because of the game mechanics (there's no way to get your MP points back efficiently once you spend them)

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I have Mitey, the monkey, the forest fairy, and Esther's thing. I agree about MP usage. During the Nightmare Spirit battle I just ran around in circles until Drippy threw some MP orbs into the arena.

[King Mark 3,631]

That problem doesn't solve itself. MP potions are more expensive than the money you'll have

You basically have to set the AI of other characters to "don't use abilities" (in Tactics) in order to do manual healing when you need it. Or save MP for boss battles then go all out. That's why you need familiars than can hit hard with physical attacks

If you don't you characters waste all the MP in 2-3 normal encounters

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Yeah I realized very quickly not to let the computer control the unused character.

[Red 75]

Playing through Dragonborn in Skyrim right now. I'm really digging it. It has a bit of a Lovecraftian vibe to it with the creepy, secluded island and evil deities.

[Jay 37,364]

Here you go KM, some JRPG news for you

http://www.technobuffalo.com/2013/03/04/nintendo-3dss-solid-jrpg-line-up-for-2013/

[Faleel 5,348]

I thought KM was against handhelds/DS?

[Jay 37,364]

He is, but he shouldn't be

[Koray Savas 2,251]

It's a dying aspect of the game market. It's good for kids that don't expect or demand anything more fruitful out of their gaming experiences, but it's not the best platform for genre-defying or next-gen gaming.

Sony is heavily discounting Vita games, obviously in hopes of selling more of the system. Right now I think most are 50% off for PS+ members and 30% off for everyone else. In the past couple months all the highest-rated games for it were free for PS+.

[Quintus 5,399]

Installed Simpsons Tapped Out. "Played" it for a day, uninstalled that shite.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

What'd you think it was?

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Spec Ops: The Line is free right now for PS+ so I downloaded that and will play it later tonight. It surprisingly got a lot of good reviews and apparently redefined what we can expect out of FPSs in a post-COD industry. I'm intrigued.

[Quintus 5,399]

I got over halfway through and got bored. It didn't help that I'd recently read Heart of Darkness at the time and so knew exactly what was going to happen next. Also, the game feigns the suggestion of choice at key moments, which I didn't appreciate.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

Hope no one was excited about Sim City!

[Wojo 2,453]

Wow, that sucks. I had been looking forward to it, but the always online requirement is a drag. I can believe Stardock's Elemental game being broken upon release, but Maxis' flagship game? Glad I wasn't in a hurry to buy it.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I got over halfway through and got bored. It didn't help that I'd recently read Heart of Darkness at the time and so knew exactly what was going to happen next. Also, the game feigns the suggestion of choice at key moments, which I didn't appreciate.

Well the first thing I immediately noticed is that it wasn't a FPS Always thought it was.

Other than that it seems like a standard military shooter. Nolan North is sealing it for me right now though. Every time he voices a game protagonist it just puts me in happy Uncharted mode.

[Quintus 5,399]

Tomb Raider 8/10

[Jay 37,364]

Tomb Raider 2013 reboot? You finished the whole thing already?

[Quintus 5,399]

Yeah, it's about as big as Uncharted 2, only not as well paced or good as. Nice enough reboot, though, even if it isn't really the Tomb Raider of the nineties; the actual tomb raiding sadly playing second fiddle to generic cover based uber violence. By the second half i was yearning for solitary exploration and puzzle solving in vast underground caverns and the creeping loneliness associated with that. This Lara is instead an action hero, but not exactly a failure at it either.

[Jay 37,364]

Cool. Which Tomb Raider game would you say is the best one?

[Quintus 5,399]

God I can't remember. Played them all bar Angel of Darkness. Possibly the second or the third one, but I'm only going off vague flashbacks of my enjoyment of them.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Can't you explore the island whenever you want?

[Quintus 5,399]

Yeah, to a point. The only things to be found though are pointless collectibles which are of no consequence. There's only a handful of actual tombs, and those are TINY. More like simplistic cave puzzles which take about five minutes to clear out.

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

Can't you explore the island whenever you want?

The game narrative is actually fairly linear, and that drives you across the island. Not really open world.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I'm almost done with Spec Ops: The Line. I don't think there's been a game in awhile that I've sat through completely in a long time. I've got 25-something odd games that I've started and have yet to finish from the past year or so. This one I started and was just really grabbed by it for some reason. The graphics are definitely nothing special, but the gameplay is a less specific version of Mass Effect. It's really smooth and engaging. The story is never clear from the beginning, and I know it's supposed to have some grand twist but that all went out the window when IGN compared it to Fight Club in their review when it first came out. So that just made it all obvious to me. Walker and Konrad are most likely the same person, he's delusional and everyone is trying to stop him and not fight against him. When you first speak to the Radioman he goes, "This is Captain Walker" and he replies, "Captain... Walker, right." So obvious. Storytelling mechanics aside, the game does bring up the horrors of war a bit more effectively than the poor shock factor cutscene levels in Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare games. Dubai is a unique and glorious location for this rogue guerrilla-style combat, and being able to interact with the environment during gameplay is a great addition to set it apart from other shooters. I also really love the diegetic music used to score the game. The Radioman blaring Deep Purple's "Hush" was a moment that really wanted me to keep playing from the start. The other song selections are great too, and while functional, the original score isn't much to write about.

What I've taken away the most from this game though, is that it solidifies Nolan North as probably the greatest video game voice actor. He adds so much to the overall package that a random actor chosen to simply read lines would make this experience so much less rewarding. How his composure changes as you progress shows that the developers really put effort into fleshing out his character. I'm playing on 'Suicide Mission' difficulty, and while easy at first it's now providing a real challenge. I'm sort of at the 'all hope is lost' stage in the story and the way he yells "Fuck you!" through his teeth as I pick off an Elite Soldier is just fantastic; especially compared to the "Enemy down!" from earlier in the game when things were still going according to plan. I'll probably finish it today even though I just got God Of War: Ascension, and post my closing thoughts here later.

[Jay 37,364]

Kinda ugly right?

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

They ruined a controller that had been awesome since 1995.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I saw those on Facebook and I'm 99% sure it's fake. Firstly, they wouldn't reveal their system on a new Facebook page without any hype to it. Particularly one dubbed "Playstation 4" as the 's' in 'station' is always capitalized. Second, I highly doubt they'd be handing out 100s of systems 6 months before launch for random people who share that photo.

I too wasn't a fan of the new controller at first, but getting a closer look at it from the PSBlog, I can dig it. At the very least the DualShock 3 is still compatible.

[King Mark 3,631]

I'm sure the real one can be sit flat or vertical. This shape cannot

I've finished Mugen Souls

I'm considering Mass Effect 3 as my next game

[Quintus 5,399]

You should get Deus Ex Human Evolution. It's a brilliant action RPG which I'm surprised you've never mentioned before. I started it again last night, after leaving it halfway through a couple of years ago for another game. I gotta stop doing that shit.

[King Mark 3,631]

You guys have to use my method

1 game at a time until completion. That way you never end up with a bunch of unfinished games that are hard to get back into ( don't remember the the controls/story)

[Quintus 5,399]

But the temptation can be toooooo strong!

[Jay 37,364]

Don't remember the controls? How can it be hard to remember that?

[King Mark 3,631]

when I play one of the japanese RPG's with elaborate combat systems (there's always a ton of gauges and numbers on the screen , special and chain attacks, and shit like that), it can take about 20-25 hours to grasp it to it's full extent and be in "the zone" of the game . It's hard to get back into it if you haven't played a while.

Also there's a way the eye can "see" all the relevant onscreen numbers and gauges at the same time to time your actions but only comes after you play many hours of the game

I finished the main game on Mugen Souls and I haven't fully explored some of the combat features yet. I have a bit of post game stuff to do though

[Wojo 2,453]

I also put down Deus Ex 3 awhile back and never returned. It's just so hard to dig out the manual and keep the page of controls nearby. All those intimidating words and pictures... Nightmare inducing.

[King Mark 3,631]

One of the reasons I haven't gotten the Dark Souls DLC's is that it would take me too long to get good at the game again to get to the new bosses

One reason I'm waiting to play Dragon's Dogma is that a huge expansion is coming and I want to play it along the main game

Final Fantasy 13 also had a lot of in game lore and reading to do with some complex sci-fi elements. I forgot most of it when I played FF13-2 and it hurt the game. Same applies to Mass Effect

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

I also put down Deus Ex 3 awhile back and never returned. It's just so hard to dig out the manual and keep the page of controls nearby. All those intimidating words and pictures... Nightmare inducing.

What? WASD, left click, and right click too much for you to handle? E to use? Or was it the function keys to activate augs that did you in?

[Jay 37,364]

Humor. It is a difficult concept.

[Quintus 5,399]

I also put down Deus Ex 3 awhile back and never returned. It's just so hard to dig out the manual and keep the page of controls nearby. All those intimidating words and pictures... Nightmare inducing.

I've started again from scratch after forgetting the controls, the inventory screens, the XP unlock system, the hacking mimi-game and the plot. Getting back into it feels daunting, but worth it. The PC version is handily configured for the Xbox pad, too.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Controls can be easy to forget if you play multiple games at the same time. Moving from Black Ops II to Dead Space 3 to Spec Ops to Crysis 3 can get you mixed up.