Topic: What Games Are We Playing

[EricAaron]

hi i am eric.and i am intersted in gaming.
I myself haven't been playing too terribly much lately, exams and all looming. I finished Eternal Sonata a few weeks ago, and everything I have to say about the game is wonderful.
Thenkyou.

[JonLeung]

Yesterday, I just finished the main story of Batman: Arkham City (PC).  My clear % is 50%; I know I've got all those Riddler trophies and other sidequests to do.  Clearly, the best Batman video game ever.  Almost every major villain (and some minor ones) make an appearance.  (Except Scarecrow, but he had some big sequences in the previous game.)  Good story, though it does seem odd that Arkham City could have been set up in the first place with Bruce Wayne only objecting it now...

I was debating between that and Portal 2 (PC) and L.A. Noire (PC) while deciding what games to play next, so I'll probably start one of those two when I'm really done with Arkham City.

Everyone keeps asking me why I'm a Nintendo fan and play primarily just Nintendo systems and PC...but so many of the really good PlayStation/Xbox games continue to come out for the PC, so I can't be faulted with that logic.  

Speaking of Nintendo, I guess I should get back to Mario Kart 7 (3DS) at some point...when I feel like taking on those stupid CPU players in 150cc who like to hit me at the end of the last lap and all blaze by me all at once, dropping me from 1st-place-which-felt-assured to 6th-place-because-everyone-was-clumped-together-and-apparently-were-right-on-my-tail.

[JonLeung]

I now have done all of the stuff to do in the main game of Batman: Arkham City (PC)!  Side missions, Riddler trophies/challenges, Catwoman stuff, all done!



But my clear percentage is only 71%...I guess the Riddler's Revenge stuff apart from the main game still count towards the percentage.  Should I do those too, or just move on to another game?

[JonLeung]

Just finished Portal 2 (PC).  Probably would've finished it much earlier had I actually had a chance to play it last weekend at all.  Good game.  Short, but good.  Much easier than the first game (this was...a piece of cake...), but the story is much better.  Well, the first one barely had a story...but Portal 2 was well voice-acted, too.  I really liked how the final "boss" was defeated, though I wish the game didn't have to practically just hand it to you.

Somehow I forgot to mention that over the Christmas break I played the Special Editions of the first two Monkey Island games (PC).  Seeing as how I replayed the second one many times before, blazing through it in under three hours was almost brainless.  Often, I would play with the real-time version swapping, and it's fun to toggle instantly between the original VGA game and the new graphics and see what they've changed.  In places where the detail was fuzzy before, they've added a couple LucasArts cameos...good stuff.  Remember, LucasArts, you've got a lot more than just Star Wars...

[alucard]

Just started on Super Mario 3D Land last night, what an awesome game. I got the hang of the whole 3 dimensional play really fast, I am moving through the levels quickly like I do when I play the 2D Mario games on SNES.

[Peardian]

So, a few days ago I randomly started playing Metroid Fusion, via 3DS. I beat it earlier today, with a clear time of 4:05 and 68% clear percent. I must say, it was great. Even though a number of things were spoiled for me already, via sprite sheets and the maps here, there were still a good number of parts that had me surprised.


One thing I noticed is just how similar to Other M it was. (Or, the other way around, really.) The way Samus narrates, the progression through the station, the clever use of doors and security hatches, how the creatures (bosses, mostly) affect the environment, and a good amount of the plot and events. Other M was practically Fusion 2.

[Trop]

Other M was supposed to be a prequel to Fusion.  Remember how Ridley disintegrates when you find him in Fusion?  That's because he was already dead, the Queen killed him Other M.

[Peardian]

I've been playing a variety of games, most of them old ones.

I've been going through Wario Land 4 in Hard Mode, and am at Crescent Moon Village. This game can get quite challenging, especially without moon jumps and infinite time cheats.

In Metroid, I finally beat Kraid, and only thanks to the Restore Point feature. It saved me days/weeks/months I would have spent trekking back to my favorite room in Brinstar to fill up on health every time I died. And I died a lot.

In the original Legend of Zelda, I'm finally making progress in the Third Dungeon. Until just the other day, I thought Darknuts could only be hurt by Bombs, so I wasn't getting far at all. Even though I know better now, they're still a huge pain to deal with. In fact, I've only had one attempt at the boss because the Darknuts in the previous rooms keep killing me.

In Kid Icarus: Uprising, I have 99.5% completion. I have every weapon, and am only missing two powers. That said, I still have quite a ways to go on the Treasure Hunt. A lack of people to streetpass with means I haven't even completed Palutena's grid. Also, my new favorite weapon is the Aurum Orbitars. Pew pew!

And finally, in Pushmo, I've made some puzzles! They're big, so you won't be able to scan them if you haven't at least cleared Challenges 3.

[JonLeung]

I just finished Xenoblade Chronicles on the Wii!  139 hours and 22 minutes was my clear time.

EDIT: Earlier this week I had planned to finish it on Saturday, since I didn't think I'd have time during the week.  If I followed through with that, it would have been a fitting coincidence...I just (re)learned that Saturday is the one-year anniversary of the "Operation Rainfall" campaign to bring Xenoblade Chronicles, Pandora's Tower, and The Last Story to North America.  Though I do hope to eventually get to those, maybe I could tackle some shorter games in the meantime...

[vorpal86]

I finished Contra 3 - Alien Wars on Hard mode just the other day. Is it even POSSIBLE to beat this game under normal play without a cheat code on the Hard level? I think I probably used over 150 guys to beat this one.

I did of course, already beat it on Easy without codes though a while back. This game was a real big step up in challenge on the Snes from the NES Super C as I beat that one using just 3 men to start with. Contra 1 was also pretty easy too using 3 guys.

The past 8 or 9 months or so I actually played through a few NES games and beat them as I have been away.

Musashi no Bouken (Brave Fencer)
Contra 1 and 2
Chronicles of the Radia War
Bionic Commando NES
Bionic Commando Rearmed
NEW SMB Wii and DS
Zelda Skyward Sword

PC Wizard 101 heh..
PC Turok (New One)

[FlyingArmor]

A little bit ago, I finished playing Brain Lord in Japanese. It was strange to see kanji compound words written in half kanji and half hiragana, like 生そく rather than 生息, 石ひ rather than 石碑, and かい道 instead of 街道 to name a few instances. It made things a little more difficult to read, more so I think than if it were all in kana.

I've made it to the fiery underground area in Aretha (the one for the SNES), on the quest to retrieve the final Dragon Source (hahah, 竜の源 sounds a little strange when put in English XD). The battles are definitely different from what you'd normally expect. When you attack an enemy, there is no indication of how much damage you dealt, so you have really no way of knowing how you're doing against an enemy until you deal the final blow. Also, there can often be multiple enemy groups surrounding the players, so when you defeat one group, you turn to the next. Battles drag out far too much though because of this, so although it's an interesting feature, it does have its drawbacks. But aside from that, it's been a fairly interesting game to play through!

In God Medicine, I think I'm getting close to the last dungeon; the Sandman people are ready to transport me to the Demon King's Castle (魔王城)! I'm definitely considering mapping this game in the future, since it　has been so much fun playing through the amount I have so far.

And from time to time I return to Ultima VI: The False Prophet (in Japanese, of course ). I'm at the part where I meet up with the gargoyles in the underworld and have to go fix the Gargoyle lens and get someone in Britannia to make the Britannian lens to view the Codex that will eventually end up in the void once again by the end of the game. It's been a little frustrating playing through this game lately, since I'm coming across a lot of unfamiliar vocabulary, and with all the game text being in kana, it makes things that much more difficult, since contrary to what people may presume, kanji actually makes things easier to read.

[ozzy88]

I'm near the end of FF6 but there is a lot to explore and my party isn't strong enough to deal with a lot of stuff. I've been into the Zone Eater but got destroyed, so I chose to RETREAT!!!

The last thing I did before closing down the game and the stream was getting the magicite that gives you Fire3/Ice3/Lightening3 which will be learned by the party members one at a time.

I took a peak at the World of Ruin map here and uh...yeah, I was really lost but at the end of my last session I remembered that the white dots on the mini-map would've solved that without spoiling anything.

More exploring and and leveling next time =)

[Peardian]

I was hoping to get some maps done this week, but then Paper Mario: Sticker Star happened.

As far as Paper Mario games, this one is rather unique. Its battle system lies somewhere between the first game, Super Paper Mario, and Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. Due to it being a handheld game, the world is broken up into stages (like SPM) and the battles are much faster in pace. There's also a general inflation in battle stats. A normal Goomba has 5 HP, 2 POW (compared to 2/1), while Mario's normal Jump sticker can do a total of 11 damage if you get all the Action Commands. With the right stickers, you can clear a field. Also, possibly due to the length, the big bosses a very Challenging. Not only do they have high defense, but tons of HP. The first big boss has 90 and can heal!

[TerraEsperZ]

I was hoping to get some maps done this week, but then Paper Mario: Sticker Star happened.

Funny, I'm the other way around. I'm often hoping to catch up on the many games I have not completed/begun, but then mapping happens.

But for once, I've taken a break to play a game I helped fund on Kickstarter, Giana Sisters: Twisted Dream. The game is a modern update/reboot of the classic C64 era game Great Giana Sisters which was itself a Super Mario Bros clone. It features classic platforming gameplay with quickly ramping difficulty but what makes the game unique is the twisting mechanic. At any time, you can switch Giana from her 'Cute' form (which allows her to spin slowly downward in the air) to her 'Punk' one (which lets her dash in any direction as well as enemies). The twist (literally) is that the whole world as well as the soundtrack twist with her, from 'Cute' Giana's darker chiptune music and nightmarish world to 'Punk' Giana's rocking upbeat tunes and cheerful fantasy world. Obstacles appear and disappear with each form and the whole world dynamically morphs within seconds which is quite impressive.

The game is also kicking my ass pretty bad. And for once, it feels *good*.

[JonLeung]

I finally got around to finishing The Last Story on the Wii earlier this week.  This makes me probably the only one of my group of friends who've completed all three of the main "Operation Rainfall" games.  Very few of them even know what is meant by that...  >_<

Anyway, it's just in time for the Wii U!  Which I will be picking up after a long wait first thing tomorrow morning.  While I wait, I really should put some time into Pokémon: Black Version 2 which has mostly been neglected since I've just been busy with a lot of other stuff besides games lately.

Hey, what do you know, it's 10 PM here.  New Yorkers are getting their Wii Us now!  Let us know how it is, it's another 12 hours for me here, where there are no midnight launches (that I know of).