WeekDAY gaming(8/10/09)- What are you (still) playing?

[Purple Santa]

Zip up, button up, fold up, don’t crease, do not open until next Friday, now filling in for the weekend is its stand-in, the other half of the week, the weekday. A start of another week filled with curiosities, questions to ponder, or maybe just meander the days till something comes along. No matter, an end brings a beginning, thus we meet again, discussing what was and what will be.

I’d like to proudly claim that my list of games to be played was done with success. Alas, I would be telling tales of grandeur. So my plans went the way of the dodo. The lazy days of summer…ok, just me with lack of motivation…played some, glanced at a box or two but mainly…well it’s a good question where my weekend went and what I did. Recall from the fuzzy memory states I played:

Tiger Woods ’10 (PSP)- Domination continues of the virtual golf world. I took the British Open, winning by 30 strokes.

‘Splosion Man- The game that frustrates but you can’t help but keep loving it. No pink tu-tu or bust.

Kingdom Hearts- I avoided this game for so long, I don’t remember why I wouldn’t buy it. I found them cheap in a Circuit City bargain bin when I bought them. This is definitely one of my better bargain bin buys. The game is fun, charming and just amount of light heartedness.

Yakuza 2- A lack of wanting to move from the a/c filled room into the steam filled greenhouse known as my attic made playing this a bit less likely...and not at all.

XIII- Good intentions and all that jazz. See above for my whining reasoning I didn't play.

Goodbye weekend, hello weekday. Celebrate them both with tales from your weekend, what did YOU play then off to the future with what will YOU continue (or start) to play.

[Camel]

Persona 4 all week. I'm thinking I might drop my other console ban soon, though, and just take my time (meaning 5 months) to beat P4.

My summer break is over, back to teaching hellions for now!

[Wilkz07]

Mass Effect - dusted it off this weekend, downloaded Bringing Down the Sky. The DLC was surprisingly satisfying. Working on my 2nd playthrough as my main to get paragon full. Started a new career as Soldier.

Call of Juarez BIB - multiplayer. so much fun.

[LarsenNET]

Continuing Final Fantasy XII. Leveling up in the Paramina Rift.

[Gorvi]

I had a rough time trying to find even an hour in one sitting to get in some gaming all weekend, that didn't even happen until last night. What I did play:

Final Fantasy XI I didn't think I'd get much in, and I was right. I was able to do some partying on my Red Mage with Cyndair last night and I got 61, only 14 levels to go!

Riviera: The Promised Land I got a few more hours into this. Damn, this game is quirky as hell. The story, while not bad, won't be why I'm playing this through to the end, it's the charm of everything and just the uniqueness of the battle system and the character progression. Good stuff.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Ok, the game has finally settled in for me. I'm almost done with the Death Mountain dungeon and can easily see myself seeing the game through to the end this time. It's no LttP or anything, but it's good.

[Dukefrukem]

I've been playing Crysis still. What an amazing looking game. It really boggles my mind that there's this kind of graphic technology out there that most people can't enjoy because of hardware limitations. crazy.

[Iron Past]

Pulled out Oblivion GOTY since I never actually finished it. I find I enjoy games that get all sorts of attention much more if I go back and play them after it's died out, which is why I don't pay too much attention to hype stuff anymore (at least when nearing release).

Also, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite has owned my PSP's soul since I put it in there. I'm really enjoying it, but I hope that more options for crafting armor and weapons opens up later at a faster pace.

[Spigot]

It was a weekend of unexpected surprises for me.

Wii Sports Resort (Wii) - I picked this up on a whim after hearing some people talk it up and am I ever glad I did. My kids absolutely LOVE it and I even got my wife to try out the Frisbee game yesterday and she didn't absolutely hate it (in fact, she did better than my son and I did!)

Diablo 2 (PC) - I heard about the high resolution hack the other day on In Game Chat and had to take it for a spin. I still have to finish up the expansion but my repeated attempts to run through the game again tend to be thwarted by severe eye gouging from the chunky pixels. That hi-res hack is fantastic though. I can actually see something besides my giant character now. And I can run it widescreen!

Little King's Story (Wii) - I made some really, really stupid mistakes the other night (note to self, don't play while barely conscious) and decided that since I am only a few hours into the game, it's better to cut my losses and restart the game. Now that I know what I'm doing, I should be able to fly through the initial part of the game and not throw half of my people down holes or into battle with giant nasties that I shouldn't be fighting.

'Splosion Man (XBLA) - Dear level 2-9. I hate you. I hate you SO much. Hugs & kisses, Spigot.

1 Vs. 100 (XBLA?) - Played when Gabe & Tycho were co-hosting. Due to bad reflexes, I guessed that the symbol for McDonald's was the Green Berets, not the Golden Arches. Sigh.

Flower, Sun & Rain (DS) - I am really enjoying the strange story and the way that the game doesn't just break the 4th wall, it hauls out a giant wrecking ball and batters it into dust. I'm on something like the 9th or 10th day now which means I'm at least halfway through. Yay!

We had the power go out last night just as I was about to sit down and get into some prime console/PC gaming, so I was able to really focus on FS&R for a good hour or two with no distractions aside from the lightning and thunder. Good times.

Now to see if my copy of Afrika (sorry, Hakuna Matata) arrives today for the PS3. It feels hot enough around here to be an African savanna.

[rein]

Damn it Gorvi, you are making me want to dig out my copy of Riviera for the GBA and play it. I did't really like the game that much but for whatever reason you are making it sound worthwhile.

I didn't play any Persona 4 this weekend so I am going to try to get back on track this week with it. Other than that, a little more time with Fat Princess.

[Cyndair]

All of my gaming plans were thwarted by an 8 month old and some people who decided to show up at my house. They said they were my friends. I'm still not real sure though because most people tell me I don't have any friends...

Wii Sports Resort: As expected makes for a great time when you have people over. We spent a lot of time with archery and sword fighting. I'm getting much better at showdown mode now that I've figured out how to block different directions.

FFXI: I managed to squeeze in some time during baby naps to do some crafting and load up all my slots at the auction house. With some of the gil I've been making, I purchased a pair of Dusk Ledelsens for use with my Warrior. I also managed to get Mythril Star rank in campaign. Only two ranks to go before I can buy some useful gear for PLD. Last but not least, I somehow had 3 merit points to dump into shield skill and thanks to partying with Gorvi I earned another two. One more merit point to go before my shield skill is officially capped and fully merited. Woo hoo!

[Gorvi]

Originally Posted by rein

Damn it Gorvi, you are making me want to dig out my copy of Riviera for the GBA and play it. I did't really like the game that much but for whatever reason you are making it sound worthwhile.

It really is worth playing I think. The problem the game has is that it explains itself terribly, and it really is like no other RPG out there, at least that I've come across. Even reading the manual doesn't help all that much. I'll try to do my best:

So battles work like this: every action you do consumes an item. Every single one. There is no Attack, Defend, Item, Magic, whatever menu. You choose 4 items to bring in to battle, each with a quantity attached to it (they call it durability) and once you use up that quantity it's gone. So if you want to attack, you use a weapon and it consumes one. You want to heal and you can either use a healing item or some weapons (one staff in particular) used by some characters will heal. You can use armor to raise defense as well. Also, each item, in most cases, works differently for each character. If someone isn't skilled in a weapon or item, they just throw it at the enemy.

And that leads to skills. If a character is "skilled" in an item they can gain xp with it. Which is how you actually make your character stronger. You don't gain xp for yourself, you gain it for weapons and items. Once you max the xp for that item, you learn a skill for it, which in turn gives you stat boosts permanantly. You can also then use that skill when your Overdrive meter builds up to either do a stronger attack, do a full party heal, whatever it is that's tied to that item. And that's how you grind, in a way. Once you can do practice battles every time you get a new item that a character is skilled in it pays to do a practice fight (doesn't consume uses, but you gain xp) to max out your characters with that item to "level up".

It's strange and it takes a lot of time to get used to, but it'll make sense eventually. My major complaint so far is that you only have 15 item slots total, and you will end up throwing away items constantly. The main thing to get past is that everything is expendable, you don't need to hold on to rare items or weapons, just use them. Just make sure you have some weapons and some means of healing yourself and you'll be fine. An inventory full of only healing items or only weapons will probably just get you killed in fights. Hopefully that helps.

[Spigot]

Originally Posted by Gorvi

It really is worth playing I think. The problem the game has is that it explains itself terribly, and it really is like no other RPG out there, at least that I've come across.

What are you talking about? It's a lot like at least one other RPG out there.

FFXII!

You're right though. It's very poorly explained in-game and you basically have to flail about a lot to figure things out. I wish I had played FFXI after finishing up my run on Asheron's Call but before WoW (and kids) as I'd have been able to give it the attention it deserves.

Edit: Ah, crap. I thought you were talking about FFXI, not Riviera. Sigh.

Riviera is great though. It's odd, but great. I should go back and try to wrap it up on the GBA, then actually sink some time into Yggdra Union one of these days. Knights In The Nightmare is awesome too.

[Gorvi]

I'm really looking forward to playing Yggdra Union and eventually Knights in the Nightmare, just based on playing what I have of Riviera. That kind of uniqueness is great.

[jpublic]

Tron 2.0. I'm doing a completionist run, making sure I get every damn Build Note I can.

Flower, Sun and Rain. I think. I don't know. This game is bizzare.

Witcher. Attempt #3, kids. Hopefully I won't burn out on Ch 3 AGAIN.

[hunterx280]

I got a respectable amount of gaming done over the weekend. I played quite a bit of TF2 over the weekend. I mostly played on the PC but a buddy of mine convinced me to pick it up on the 360 so I could play online with him since his computer can't run any games. Going from PC to 360 is a rough experience. The game feels stiff and only running at 30fps (no HDTV) makes hitting things difficult. It's weird going back to my roots. Ah well.

Last night I played Mirror's Edge until way to late. I'm almost done. I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about the game. There are some really interesting moments but sometimes there are some really frustrating times as well. I hate the combat for one thing. I was originally going to try to play through not killing anyone but that just made the game impossible. I've only got one or two chapters left so I'll probably finish it by the end of the week depending on how much free time I have.

Oh! On Friday night I played the Batman: Arkham Asylum PC demo. I'm really tempted to pick this game up. It has a really cool mix of stealth and action. The only thing I'm concerned about is the replay value.

I also played the Red Faction: Guerilla demo on the 360. That was some interesting and chaotic fun.

[Doctor Setebos]

Picked up LEGO Star Wars at Target on Friday for only $15 and my oldest son and I tore through Episode 1. Now we've gone back to focusing on LEGO Batman since we have to return it to my nephew at some point, I suppose. I'll probably end up buying it, too, since it's only $20.

Other than that, I've set aside Dragon Quest IV (starting to get a bit stale and boring) and picked up Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, and having a blast!

I'm hoping I can convince the wife that we need to pick up Wii Sports Resort sometime this week.

[rein]

Originally Posted by Gorvi

It really is worth playing I think. The problem the game has is that it explains itself terribly, and it really is like no other RPG out there, at least that I've come across. Even reading the manual doesn't help all that much. I'll try to do my best:

So battles work like this: every action you do consumes an item. Every single one. There is no Attack, Defend, Item, Magic, whatever menu. You choose 4 items to bring in to battle, each with a quantity attached to it (they call it durability) and once you use up that quantity it's gone. So if you want to attack, you use a weapon and it consumes one. You want to heal and you can either use a healing item or some weapons (one staff in particular) used by some characters will heal. You can use armor to raise defense as well. Also, each item, in most cases, works differently for each character. If someone isn't skilled in a weapon or item, they just throw it at the enemy.

And that leads to skills. If a character is "skilled" in an item they can gain xp with it. Which is how you actually make your character stronger. You don't gain xp for yourself, you gain it for weapons and items. Once you max the xp for that item, you learn a skill for it, which in turn gives you stat boosts permanantly. You can also then use that skill when your Overdrive meter builds up to either do a stronger attack, do a full party heal, whatever it is that's tied to that item. And that's how you grind, in a way. Once you can do practice battles every time you get a new item that a character is skilled in it pays to do a practice fight (doesn't consume uses, but you gain xp) to max out your characters with that item to "level up".

It's strange and it takes a lot of time to get used to, but it'll make sense eventually. My major complaint so far is that you only have 15 item slots total, and you will end up throwing away items constantly. The main thing to get past is that everything is expendable, you don't need to hold on to rare items or weapons, just use them. Just make sure you have some weapons and some means of healing yourself and you'll be fine. An inventory full of only healing items or only weapons will probably just get you killed in fights. Hopefully that helps.

After that excellent explaination how can I not go back and play it? Thanks... ...I think.

[Bad Buddha]

Had an opportunity to squeeze in some Tropico on Friday. Also loaded up the original Neverwinter Nights Diamond version. Other than that the whole weekend was driving and visiting.

Did go to a great 25th Anniversary party for my daughter's boyfriend's parents. Halfway through the evening, they popped open a Methuselah of an Eastern Washingtom Red. Didn't get the name of the vinyard, but the wine was excellent!

[menage]

Hi guys

Just got back from an incredible 20 day holiday in Indonesia. The best holiday I ever had in my life. Saw some terrific sites and nature, incredible weather and food, lovely people and me and my girlfriend grew even closer in that period if that was even possible after 6 years. I landed this morning and slept some hours this afternoon so I'm geting in some gaming tonight no matter what though.

I took my DS with me on Holiday but didn't play much. I tried geting into Devil Survivor, but I didn't like it as much. Way too linear (as in Vandalhearts had the same structure 10/15 years ago) and the auction system annoyed the fuck out of me. So I skipped to FFTA2: Grimoire. A bit more traditional, but looks and sounds ace and plays quite ok.

It really is worth playing I think. The problem the game has is that it explains itself terribly, and it really is like no other RPG out there, at least that I've come across. Even reading the manual doesn't help all that much. I'll try to do my best:

Also a problem I had with Devil Survivor. I read more tutorials in the first 3 hours then annything else. I wish these egames just ditched the whole 6 hour tutorial thing a bit and let the manual have a right to exist.

I think it's a good time to break with Fallout 3 now. I didn't play for 3 weeks and other games dererve my attention. The stuff I heard of Mothership Z wasn't that hot (which I could predict, seemed linear from the start, and F3 was all about finding shit for me).

I alos saw a shitload of movies on my flights. Star Trek was incredibly awesome. Wolverine was alright at the start but the end with Deadpool was really lame (cheapest villian ever, looked horrible as well), Outlander was actually kinda fun.

[drobvice]

Had a similar weekend o Cyndair:

Baby naps (13 month old), check.
FF XI, check.
Wii Sports Resort, check.

Except I purchased Wii Sports late yesterday but did't get time to try it out.