Topic: What Games Are We Playing

[JonLeung]

I finished Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Wii) sometime last week I think, with both characters at Level 99 and seeing each of their three endings.  Beautiful game, but repetitive.

Finally got a hold of Batman: Arkham Asylum (PC) last night, I guess I'll see what the fuss is about.  I only played around for like fifteen seconds, didn't even finish walking the Joker to his cell or whatever.  Can I seriously not use a gamepad unless it's the Xbox 360 controller for Windows (which I don't have)?  I'll have to find that JoyToKey program again to map keystrokes to gamepad buttons.

I should probably start The Legend Of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (DS) soon especially since I consider myself a Zelda fan.  It's just that I haven't yet finished Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (DS) a second time at Level 40 or higher, and for some reason I kind of only want one game going per system at a time.  I wish building experience was a little quicker, it doesn't help that enemies don't respawn unless you totally leave the whole area and come back.  I suppose I could use a warp to leave and come back, and that seems to work, but it's also annoying to have to walk to the warp.

I guess with my one-game-on-one-platform-at-a-time thing means I could also start another Wii game or catch up on all those PS2 games I got for cheap but lately it's just been about finding the time.  Considering that I'm doing P90X these days, that's over an hour of working out every day that would have earlier been gaming time.  If anything else happens on any weekday, that usually means next to no gaming time at all that day.  

[Maxim]

Spirit Tracks is not very long, unless you want to go nuts with all the train cargo/passenger tasks left over at the end.

P90X? Indistinguishable from Weight Gain 3000 as far as I can tell. BEEFCAKE!

[JonLeung]

Finished Batman: Arkham Asylum (PC) last night, and solved the remaining riddles today.  Funny thing is, I solved the last riddle in the same room as the "extra" Chronicle of Arkham.  What are the chances?

Also, last night, I refinished Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story (DS) at Level 40, only to find that they just tell you you're amazing.  WTF, that wasn't worth the extra effort...  Anyway, this frees up my DS so I should probably start The Legend Of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (DS)...

Got Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars (Wii) today.  I've got the original Japanese game so it's funny when noticing the subtle things that have been changed.  One not-so-subtle addition is online play, so I hope to fight some of you guys one day!  I'll post my Friend Code in the topic about the potential online Wii party.

[JonLeung]

Finished Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars (Wii) with all characters on the easiest difficulty, but that only earned me enough Zenny to buy everything except the extra colours.  Considering I earned 27 million Zenny and each of the 26 characters have two new colours that cost a million Zenny each, I've only played a third of the time necessary to unlock everything.  I think I'll save that for the Versus, since my brother's been too busy with studies to play with me.

I started Persona 3: FES (PS2) because my friend (the same one who gave me the PS2) insisted that I do, even though I thought I would play something else on the PS2, like one of the ten games I got for cheap, like maybe Final Fantasy X-2 before FF XIII comes out in March, so that at least for a little while I could say I played all the main FFs (even if X-2 isn't a "main" one, really), since I don't know if I'll ever be swayed to buy a PS3.  But anyway, Persona 3 is interesting, for sure.

[JonLeung]

I noticed that the story of Persona 3 FES begins on my 29th birthday and ends on January 31. 2010, which is when he lent me the game...  0_0

[Rew]

I just started The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks last night. Heaps of fun, and so far better than Phantom Hourglass. The only thing I really don't like is playing the Spirit Flute with the Lokomos. Seriously, I'm not a musician. Keep complicated musical matters of rhythm and timing out of Zelda please--I liked it better when it was just pushing buttons in sequence. >_<

[Peardian]

Thanks to a dear friend, I got into Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky, which I got for Christmas but didn't touch because of the other games I was trying to catch up on. I'm surprised at the amount of fixes and new features they added, much more than Platinum compared to Diamond/Pearl. It almost makes Explorers of Time/Darkness feel incomplete. By a fun little coincidence, my team ended up the same as my friend's, only with the roles reversed. I was turned into a Cyndaquil, and my partner is a Shinx. Together we're Team Pearl Star!

[Maxim]

The only thing I really don't like is playing the Spirit Flute with the Lokomos.

It's not as bad as it may appear. When you play the game on a plane, the mic thinks you're blowing constantly, yet it's still possible to succeed (it ignores very shorty notes). So it's a test of your DS mic-blowing skills (blow slowly to avoid killing yourself) and timed stylus movements. Almost all tunes are adjacent notes anyway.

Nevertheless, panpipe-playing is probably the worst bit of the game, and also has a high playing in public embarrassment factor.

[Revned]

I played a few dungeons of Phantom Hourglass awhile back and it is without a doubt my least favorite traditional Zelda game. It had no personality and was full of gimmicks. Should I even bother with Spirit Tracks?

[Maxim]

Spirit Tracks is equally gimmicky I suppose; it's basically the same game with new dungeons and a train instead of a boat. I seemed to find ST more enjoyable story-wise, but I played Phantom Hourglass in small bursts and Spirit Tracks mostly in a couple of huge blasts on 13 hour flights which might have helped with the coherency.

[Peardian]

With the exception of Linebeck, Phantom Hourglass seemed to be rather disappointing. However, I greatly enjoyed Spirit Tracks all the way up through the end. The puzzles are put together well and can really make you think in some places. A dear friend of mine is a Zelda fan and considers ST to be one of his favorite games. So yes, I recomment trying it.

[Trop]

Peardian, you like Pokémon Mystery Dungeon?  Have you ever played any of the Shiren Mysterious Dungeon games?  They're some of my favorite and a new one is coming out in a couple of days.

[Peardian]

Admittedly, the main reason I like the game is because of the fact you play as the Pokemon themselves instead of the trainers who catch them, and the stories in both games were great. I'm not really a fan of roguelike games.

[Rew]

Almost to the Fire Temple now, and I've pretty much got a hang on the Lokomo duets.

You know the thing that really bugs me about this game? Those ****ing instant death trains. And you never even get the capabilities to destroy them later in the game (from what I hear) either. Seriously, what's the deal with that? I understand increasing the challenge level, but taking one wrong turn when I'm just trying to do a side quest, get cornered by two of them, and instant game over? Urgggghhh...!

[Peardian]

Hehehe... they follow set patterns, (which can change when more tracks are added) so if you learn them, you'll have a much better chance at avoiding them. But yes, they are indeed troublesome. And the ones that actually follow you are worse. XD