After a month long video game drought, I resumed Final Fantasy 7. I couldn't remember where in the game I was. Ultima Weapon was lurking, so I did battle with him. Eventually he flew to the Northern Crater. Lo and behold, flying over the crater triggered the next story cutscene where the party decides to storm Midgar. Lucky me.

I defeated Ultima Weapon then did the Ancient Forest puzzle dungeon. This is something I never completed in my older playthroughs. Couldn't figure it out. Even now, I had to look it up. The reason I got stuck was because of the awful environment. There's a screen where you're running on tree trunks, and there are various points you can twist around the trunks. But one spot requires really delicate movement, otherwise you're likely to shoot off in another direction. Very poor level design. Once I got past that point, the rest was easy, and I grabbed a bunch of treasure I'll probably never use.

Midgar part 2 is something I'm very unfamiliar with, because speedrunners skip almost the entire dungeon using a glitch. It was disappointingly easy. My characters are pretty underlevelled (Cloud doesn't even have his level 2 limit break yet), but I already have everyone's ultimate weapon (Yuffie and Vincent are my other two party members). Smart materia distribution means Yuffie and Cloud do a ton of damage with physical attacks. Vince is my mage, so he has pretty low HP and strength but high magic, so spells like Comet and Ultima wreak havoc. The Turks were a moderate challenge. They actually dealt a decent amount of damage and Cloud nearly died at one point. The battle is made easier by the fact you only have to beat one of them. Proud Clod is a joke. While the Turks could deal 1000+ damage with an attack, Clod's attacks rarely did more than 250 damage. Hojo wasn't much stronger. Next is the Northern Cave.

You're a lot further into the game than I remember. Isn't that basically near the end of Disc 2? Disc 3 is essentially just the last area and the post-game, so you've made some steady progress. At some point, I'll play through FF7 again. I didn't bother with too much of the sidequest stuff and I didn't get a true understanding of a game. I followed a walkthrough so for the most part, it was just using powerful Enemy Skills and boss exploits to get through the game.

I'm around 26 hours into Mario & Luigi: Dream Team and just completed Driftwood Shore. Now I'm up to a section in the game where you've got to back-track and collect five specific items to summon the Zeekeeper. I hate this trope in JRPGs, usually because the action feels fragmented and feels like padding. I really want to beat the game by this weekend so I can get back to FFVI.

Yeah I just finished Disc 2. I didn't have a real understanding of the game until this playthrough. Previously I would get three of every magic materia (Fire, Ice, Thunder, Poison, Quake, Restore etc) and load up my entire party with them, distributing summon materia evenly. While I knew that equipping magic and summon materia reduces health and strength, I didn't appreciate how great the effect would be cumulatively. Now I'm smarter about it. Cloud and Yuffie have almost none of that materia equipped, just a lot of HP Plus, effect and command materia. They kick ass.

Finally finished up the New Colossus, ton of fun, double auto-shotgunning Nazis is as fun as ever. My only issue is the attrocious cover of "We're not gonna take it" they used for the final credits, holy crap was it terrible, had to skip the credits, I'd have sat through them with the (or at least A) proper rendition. Horrible.

Finished Mario and Luigi: Dream Team.

The last dungeon was emblematic of the entire game. What should have taken an hour tops, took over twice as long since the game made you do the same thing multiple times. Even the sub-boss fight against Kamek was a three-parter where you had to do the same puzzle multiple times to reach each segment.

Not only did it drag, one of the final boss fights made me literally hopping mad. You come up against Bowser in a 'Giant' fight which is a glorified QTE that relies on the finicky 3DS hardware. They generally last forever at the best of times, but this fight took it to a whole other level. After 10 minutes of watching a long series of cut-scenes and intermittently swiping left and up, the game decides to treat you to a game of bumper balls. The only problem is that it's gyro-controlled and the gyro controls are over the place. I had no way of knowing what my starting position was, so there were times where I would just roll towards the bottom of the cliff to my death. In the end, I barely tilted the 3DS left and won easily.

After that were two more meat-shields where I would just unleash my best special attacks until the game finally decided to roll the credits.

At their core, Mario and Luigi are enjoyable JRPGs with one of the best battle systems in the genre. Not a lot of games in that category rely on timed hits, so battles provide some interesting scenarios and despite being for a general audience can be difficult. For the most part, Dream Tour handles that element well, it's in other areas where the game falls apart.

Namely, it's just too damn long. The main campaign takes 45 hours to complete, an eternity for a game that only consists of 7 areas. If you compare it to other games of that length, usually there's big open spaces to explore and a lot of side content to keep the game interesting. In Dream Tour, it's the same thing over and over again with little chance to catch your breath.

Maybe it would all be worth it if the story was interesting. In Super Mario RPG, the game asked some very interesting questions of the series. What would happen if Mario and Bowser teamed up? What if Mario had other goals than to save Peach? And the game had a lot of fun exploring those possibilities. In Dream Team, you're presented an under-developed antagonist, who ultimately plays second-fiddle to Bowser.

In the end, it's a game that's ultimately there to push the hardware of the 3DS. It doesn't have anything new to say and it's clear that Alpha Dream have run out of ideas since they just remade Superstar Saga just the other month. It's the quint-essential 5/10 game that doesn't inherently do anything wrong like say Sticker Star, but there's very little reason to jump in unless you can't get enough of Mario.

After weeks of racing through games, I've taken a step back from gaming and have only poured some brief time into a couple of games.

Final Fantasy VI - Celes just transformed into an Esper, now the gang is trekking her down the western continent while fending off wild vultures. This is my first playthrough and despite my appreciation for FFIX, I'm enjoying this game so far. I was caught off-guard by the segment where you control Locke and the game becomes an Action-Adventure where you've got to steal specific items to access new areas of a town. It reminded me of one of my favourite segments in Final Fantasy VII where you've got to dress like a woman in order to fool Don Corneo.

Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga - I was suspicious of the game's nostalgia factor, but after playing the intro segment again, I was reminded of the game's charm. I won't be playing through it again, but I'm comfortable with my initial impression.

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Master Quest - Had a hankering to play it while watching television, so started up a new save. At this point, I can play the original OoT with my eyes closed, but the MQ version always keeps me on my toes.

Beat Uncharted Lost Legacy in one day......game is straight up Uncharted 4 but with two chicks instead of two brothers. The game doesn't really bring much new to the table but if you like/loved Uncharted 4, this is a must play. They straight up paid homage to my 2 favorite scenes in the series, UC4's Madagascar and UC2 Train fight....some can say that it lacks innovation to do that, but I say it's awesome if this is the final chabang of the series to throw those 2 iconic action scenes in the game. Story is clique as fuck and falls back on the protagonist having this sudden urge/empty feeling of a family member not accomplishing the ultimate task of discovering treasure and the exploration can get a bit much but besides that, I think its a solid entry.

I would not pay 40 bucks for it that being said, 20 or below is more appropriate. I happen to pay 2 bucks with discounts and everything.

It is basically UC4 because it started as DLC, then proceeded to the point that they felt they could also release it as a stand-alone title.

Instead of hijacking the Pub I'll ask this here: what can you guys tell me about Undertale? Specifically, is it a game for kids or is it more mature?

I don't know anything about it and my daughter is begging me to buy it for Christmas on PS4. She's six (going on 25) so keep that in mind.

Thanks in advance.

I'd recommend playing the game with her. If you're familiar with Earthbound, it's a very similar game, but with a couple of tweaks. The game is defined by the mechanic to play active or passive, whether to engage in battles or avoid them entirely. The choice is entirely up to you and the game can change based on your actions.

Since it is a JRPG, it is very word heavy and the game is filled with references that may go over her head. Otherwise, the tone is very similar to a cartoon like Adventure Time or Steven Universe, so if you're OK with that, then you should be sweet with letting her play this.

I've only seen walkthroughs of it online, so Emperor maybe able to add or contradict something I may have missed.

Started a new season of Tecmo Super Bowl last night for NES, I went with Miami for Dan Marino, I finally beat the fucking Bills for the first time ever in the first game of the season, threw 400 yards and 4 touchdowns with Marino primarily to Mark Duper. Bills are almost unstoppable on this game because of Thurman Thomas, if he breaks into open field he's gone and he's also a dangerous receiver that is hard to stop. The last two seasons of TSB I played were brought to an end at the hands of Buffalo, I lost the Super Bowl to them as Washington in the first season and then the last one I lost the AFC Championship game to them as Houston. I took their ass down finally 35-28. Great game too.

Big Pete pretty much nailed it with regards to Undertale. It's story-heavy and generally comical, silly, and light-hearted. There are a handful of darker moments, but it'll be fine for a six year old. Not overly challenging and it's tons of fun whether you're on your own or playing with someone watching.

Splatoon 2 - Splatfest was this weekend, with Team Sci-Fi taking on Team Fantasy. Team Fantasy won on the back of it's popularity, which was surprising given how many people I saw sporting Sci-Fi flairs. I didn't contribute much to the team victory, I was awful through out the weekend and went through long spurts where I was hopping mod. My load-out was rubbish and I was too rusty, which allowed a lot of the 2000+ Sci-Fi teams to make short work of me. It didn't help that I played on two of my least favourite maps, Musselforge Fitness and Moray Towers. I eventually changed things up and improved, but I've got a long road ahead of me that's for sure.

ActRaiser

ActRaiser opens by showing you a top-down 2D world map, the kind you'd see in the earlier Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games. You are told that monsters have taken over the world, and it is your job to restore humanity. I kinda like it. Instead of saving civilisation from monsters, civilisation has been destroyed and you have to build it back up from the ground up. You start the game in a sky palace. The palace can be moved all around the world. There are various named locations, but you can only fight at the starting location for the others are level-restricted. I have no idea what kind of game this is yet, but I like the mysterious aspect of it. I am playing as some form of deity, and my character has some stats. Is this a JRPG? I soon find out otherwise. I select "Fight" from the menu, and I am taken into a side-scrolling level. The game begins.

ActRaiser has two modes of gameplay which alternate. The first is a Castlevania-style action platformer. The second is a very rudimentary sim city type of game. Neither is anywhere near as good as a full-fledged platformer/city simulator, but the increase in variety makes up for it.

The platforming is average. Movement is good and does what you expect, but the combat is limited and clunky, and the level design is very trolly. Enemies and projectiles appear before you have a chance to react, meaning the way to minimise damage is to stutter step through level, and that's no way to play. Fortunately the game gives you plenty of health and restorative items, so a moderate amount of tanking is possible. Most levels have multiple pathways to the boss room. Although you can't re-explore the dungeon after beating the boss, it does offer the option of going a different way if one route is proving impossible to pass. Most of the bosses are well designed. They all just repeat one or two attack patterns, but figuring out a way to deal more damage than you take is a fun challenge. Or you can just abuse the OP magic spells to take them out in a few seconds.

After defeating a boss, human beings appear out of nowhere in the associated area. They communicate to you, the deity, from a temple. The city simulation is generally pleasant, but could have been designed a lot better. You control a cupid-like baby. Your duties are to perform "miracles" to make the terrain habitable, shoot arrows at monsters that terrorise the villagers, and ordering the villagers where to build. Direct the villagers toward the monster spawn points and they seal them with magic. At first, juggling these three tasks leaves you no idle time, but once you've cleared up the terrain and a few of the monsters have been sealed, there's little to do but sit around and wait for events to happen. The mortals take a long time to build up an area, so a good chunk of my in-game time was spent watching YouTube videos on anither monitor while my minions built houses and farms. Once the final monster spawn is sealed, there's a little dialog and you have to enter the second dungeon in the same area. Defeat that boss, and the level is complete. Rinse and repeat that six times, then there's a boss rush, pictured below, and the game's over.



If the combat was a bit tighter, and the city simulation less tedious, this would be an absolute gem. As it is, it's a pretty fun way to spend 5-6 hours, but nothing more than that. It must be said that there's something immensely satisfying about taking a barren world and watching it grow, person by person, house by house. The graphics are above average, both for the world map and the platforming levels. It's a game with a decent story, personality and charm, and blends together two genres that had probably never been combined before that. From what I've read the sequel removes the city building aspect, and the platforming is much more involved than the original. I'm interested.

Finished episode 2 of LiS:BtS. Man whenever the final part drops it's gonna be pretty depressing. Next I'll probably start South Park. Sorry Blindy I got sidetracked!

Emperor Big Pete Thank you gents. That's all I needed to know.

She's not big on Adventure Time but likes Steven Universe, likes Amazing World of Gumball and likes other cartoons of that nature, so it won't be anything too crazy for her from what I gather. And she can read too, so I won't have to be around all the time when she plays.

I'll be downloading it around Christmas, or maybe wait and see if it goes on sale on Boxing Day. Thanks again!

Finished up CoD: WWII, really solid campaign, smaller scale than other CoD campaigns, but solid character work and story arc throughout. And it's always a plus to have Jonathan Tucker on board. Not reinventing the wheel, but a solid campaign none the less. I'd probably say: Modern Warfare 2, Modern Warfare, Black Ops II, then WWII.

I played the Witch Hunt DLC for Dragon Age: Origins last night. I was just starting on Awakening with my DW Rogue, but decided to just play Witch Hunt because I needed closure with the Morrigan storyline. I decided not to do the Dark Ritual because my warden was appalled at how she kept it a secret the whole time and he was devoutly Andrastian (against blood magic, annulled the circle, had Isolde kill Connor, etc). Since I recruited Loghain this time around, I had him sacrifice himself killing the archdemon.

So when Warden-Commander Mahariel encountered Morrigan in front of the Eluvian, I knew he was going to stab her through. But I tried re-playing it to go through other dialogue choices and I can't really just let her go scot-free. So I pretty much stabbed her through the mirror three times last night and I LOVED IT. I know she changed a lot by Inquisition, and only if she had Kieran, but I loathed her in Origins and the OGB storyline with the ritual only reinforced my stabbity reaction. Even my nice Queen Cousland character stabbed her two years ago. LOL.

Oh well, time to go through Awakening and then DA2 (with an aggressive mage Hawke who is rivals with everyone - but rivalmances Fenris!)...

A friend at work was selling a bunch of his old games (and some DVDs) for $1-$3 in the office. I was planning on grabbing a couple from him at the end of the day, but after some hours passed with no one buying any he gave up on selling them and just put them in the break room and said they are up for grabs. I waited a few hours to see if anyone would want any so as not to be rude, but the limit of my patience was reached at that point and I snagged the rest of them.

Here is the score I brought home!



I am pretty satisfied. They all seem to have good reviews and I'll be playing through all of them, but I've started off with Link's Crossbow training for now. People were picking it up and saying it looks like the worst game ever, but it has high ratings so I was glad to give it a try. It came with the ridiculous WII ZAPPER (on the right in the picture), which I had never seen or heard of before. From an objective perspective, the only real purpose it serves is to make it more difficult to aim. However, it adds a lot to the experience and I'll be using it throughout the game until I get a gold on every challenge with it. The game is pretty awesome so far and my dad loves it as well since he is used to the shooting games at the arcades. Look how focused he is!



He generally isn't good at games, but he unexpectedly picked this right up and started beating some of the challenges so, as with many Wii games, it's a good game for novices. But it takes a reasonable amount of skill to get the gold medals, even in the early challenges. The challenges are really varied and have kept me pretty entertained so far between the different static screen, full circle aiming, and full movement ones.



I don't know if any of you have heard of / played Shenmue II, but of special note is that it actually comes with the Shenmue movie included in the case! An extra special treat!



I also thought Sky Crawlers was a movie judging from the case, but it is actually a Wii game. I'm not sure why it's a secret and not marked anywhere on the case, but it looks promising. Anyway, I can't wait to get through all these games and will report back here once I get through Crossbow Training and make some progress in Shenmue II.

Yeah, they included the Shenmue movie because the first game was only available on the basically DOA Dreamcast, so it had a very limited market as it was, it was all they could do to try to help sell it on the X-Box.

I loved the Shenmue games, only kickstarter I've ever thrown in on is Shenmue 3, not sure how they've aged, but there was nothing quite like them at the time.

Damn, tough luck (for him). If I was there I would have snagged all of those and actually payed. I need better friends. 

Finished Yooka Laylee....

I got during Black Friday...

Nier Automata
Knack 2
Life is Strange:Before the storm
Yakuza 0
Yakuza Kiwami
The Last Guardian
Kingdom Hearts 1.5+2.5
Kingdom Hearts 2.8

Not even sure where to begin :lol: I'm fucking set for the remainder of this year and in 2018 too.

Nov 25, 2017 20:57:23 GMT Blindy said:

Finished Yooka Laylee....

I got during Black Friday...

Nier Automata
Knack 2
Life is Strange:Before the storm
Yakuza 0
Yakuza Kiwami
The Last Guardian
Kingdom Hearts 1.5+2.5
Kingdom Hearts 2.8

Not even sure where to begin :lol: I'm fucking set for the remainder of this year and in 2018 too.

Pretty bummed that I couldn't get my hands on a copy of Nier Automata, but I'm sure there will be a deal before the holidays. 

My haul was:

Mario Rabbids
Rayman Legneds
DBZ Xenoverse 2
Disgaea 5
Tekken 7
Watch Dogs 2
Resident Evil 7
Guilty Gear XRD Rev 2
Nioh

Great hauls, Blindy if you did me one favour and one favour only...it'd be to play Nier Automata. I want to get your thoughts on the game, in particular the story and the OST. Breath of the Wild is my GotY but Nier Automata holds a special place.

If you refuse to play Nier because you're a rebel and hate to be told what to do, please consider Yakuza 0. Thank you that is all...

So last week I experienced pure nostalgia bliss. I marathoned through some ECW 1999 shows, while playing some Wii U and it was other-worldly. I've barely used the Wii U Pad since I owned it, but being able to play Breath of the Wild, Mario Maker, Tropical Freeze & Mario Kart 8 off-screen was just great. The creme de la creme was when I brought my 3DS out and went through a save file of Ocarina of Time. There is just something beautiful about 90s wrestling and N64 - it's like grilled cheese and ketchup.

Speaking of OoT 3DS, I completed my annual playthrough on the 3DS. This year it was a MQ playthrough of the game, only my 2nd on the 3DS which is significant, since it's the only version to reverse the map. At first glance, it doesn't seem like a big change, but when you're so used to the old version, it can throw you off. I actually stuffed up the Big Goron Sword Quest on 5 occasions which was pretty embarrassing. What stood out to me about this playthrough was just how easy some of the dungeons are. At first the game seems really hard since they throw a lot of the toughest enemies at you right away. However, by the time the Fire, Water and Shadow temples come along, the game is comparatively easier.

Emperor, how were you finding Majora's Mask? Did you prefer it over OoT?

Just finished the first day (in game) of Stick of Truth and I just got abducted by aliens. This is a pretty great game. I'm generally shit at blocking though.

I haven't played Majora's Mask in probably two months now. I'm still right at the beginning. As much as I like the concept, I think as I get older I'm less motivated to play open-ended/figure-it-out games, and more inclined to stick to simple linear stuff. That's my theory anyway.

I hear you.

Truth be told, it took me years to beat Majora's Mask. Life constantly kept getting in the way, and I didn't get around to beating it until Christmas of 06 when I got the GameCube Zelda compilation.

Sims 4 on console is proving to be very glitchy, i've had to reset a few times just to keep progress going. NFS Payback is a fun little driving game. it feels like a few NFS games molded into one.

Majora's Mask is my favourite game of all time, but I can see it being hard to get into if you didn't play it as a kid with next to nothing else to play :lol:.

Still, I beat that game probably once a year.

I just picked up Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Axiom Verge for the Switch. Going into Xenoblade essentially blind to the series. I've seen my neighbor play X a few times and seen a couple YouTube videos but that's pretty much it.