Video Games

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 10:24 pm

virgil wrote:I feel bad for whoever got Pokemon: White.

I have Pokemon: White. I accept your pity with vicious glee.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 10:31 pm

virgil wrote:I feel bad for whoever got Pokemon: White. My partner has been trying to get past the third gym all night; her six are five levels higher than the gym leader's three (any higher and they'll stop listening to her), and she's using moves they're weak against. The gym leader's pokemon take only a smidgen of damage and then whollop hers, and it's not possible to have run into any of the five pokemon that are actually strong against the gym leader's type by this point in the game.

That's the bug one, right?

Throwing rocks at his Pokemon make them explode, if you have any Rock moves.

Timburr learns Rock Throw fairly early on and is resistant to Bug attacks.

I evolved that (it evolves at level 25 or so; if you can trade then evolve it again) and it should be able to kill him.

That's what I did in Black at least.

Your partner's going to hate the next Gym Leader though... (has 2 Electric/Flying Pokemon...nearly fucking drove me insane)

Also, the game does suck, but I still bought the sequel a few hours ago.

Also bought Soul Calibur V and am currently amazed at the depth of the create-a-character mode.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 11:17 pm

virgil wrote:I feel bad for whoever got Pokemon: White. My partner has been trying to get past the third gym all night; her six are five levels higher than the gym leader's three (any higher and they'll stop listening to her), and she's using moves they're weak against. The gym leader's pokemon take only a smidgen of damage and then whollop hers, and it's not possible to have run into any of the five pokemon that are actually strong against the gym leader's type by this point in the game.

What's her starter? Both Oshawatt and Tepig are good there, and if she chose Oshawatt, then her gift monkey is gold in gym three.
Pidove can be caught in Pinwheel Forest and Route 3, and is good against Whirlipede, amazing against Leavanny.
Blitzle can be caught in Route 3, and learns Flame Charge at 18th level.
Roggenrolas and Woobats can be caught in Wellspring Cave, both are strong against the bug type, and Woobat helps with Whirlipede's Poison type.

There's a full party there, as long as she didn't pick smugleafSnivy. If she did, and you have a way of accessing event pokemon (AR), she could grab Victini.

Darth, how's B/W2?

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 11:46 pm

Haven't started much.

But you can NAME your rival!

Forgot how much fun that was, especially after we got two annoying rivals that you couldn't name insulting shit.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Tue Oct 16, 2012 12:04 am

Right, so my AR recently crapped out and I won't be able to get a new one anytime soon. Anyone think they can hook me up with various event triggering items/pokemon over wifi?

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Tue Oct 16, 2012 12:06 am

My SS rival is named Fuckbum. I'm very mature.

And I can't remember the bug leader in White. At all. I remember the HGSS one, who makes you play Amedakuji (which is kind of fun, and obviously you go out of your way to beat his minions anyway for the XP and pokedollars). The BW leader I fucking hated was the Electric one. I spent so much time grinding for that fight.

But don't worry! Once she beats the game there are much more annoying foes - the last member of the rich family, Cynthia...

Also, is it just traded ones that disobey you after a certain level based on badges? Or all of them?

Make sure to enjoy the cinema part of BW2. I seriously considered buying it just for that. If it were a sequel to any other pokemon generation ever I would.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Tue Oct 16, 2012 12:09 am

All pokemon above (# badges+1)*10 disobey, I think. Traded ones are just more dickish, if I recall.

Lago PARANOIA · Post by **Lago PARANOIA** » Tue Oct 16, 2012 12:45 am

I hate Xenogears but I love it. It's a complete trainwreck even before the infamous Disc 2, but it's an entertaining trainwreck.

I also rather like Fei. As it turns out he's completely bugfuck crazy (for a good reason, too) but he still keeps on trucking and tries to rise above it despite all of the shit the game keeps throwing at him. Good for him.

Then again, I kind of liked Raiden from MGS2, too. I have no idea why fandom hated his ass so much beyond 'I wanted to play Snake'. Granted, that's a pretty good reason to hate almost any replacement character, but I liked how he tried to deal with a profoundly shitty situation with a minimum of whining or angst.

Leress · Post by **Leress** » Tue Oct 16, 2012 3:31 am

Lago PARANOIA wrote: Then again, I kind of liked Raiden from MGS2, too. I have no idea why fandom hated his ass so much beyond 'I wanted to play Snake'. Granted, that's a pretty good reason to hate almost any replacement character, but I liked how he tried to deal with a profoundly shitty situation with a minimum of whining or angst.

I am fine with Raiden, but Rose can burn in hell.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Tue Oct 16, 2012 6:01 pm

Aaaand I just got a new appreciation for Dishonored.

The mission I kept having to replay because someone was dying on it, I figured out how that was happening.

If you neutralize the target rather than kill him, he gets arrested, and his escort walks him through the building. And if they encounter the unconscious body of a guard, the guards freak out for a second, and the target tries to run and then they shoot him dead.

They'd been encountering one of my sleeper-stashes, leading to the target getting shot dead trying to escape.

So the lesson is, always do your job in a tidy and workmanlike manner.

Voss · Post by **Voss** » Thu Oct 18, 2012 3:39 am

How is Dishonored? It looks pretty interesting, but I've heard quite a bit of shit about it, and I'm not sold on shelling out $60 for a couple hours of gameplay. And the mainstream computer press jerking off about the new game of the year, and 'people are playing it wrong' isn't exactly convincing.

I'm particularly concerned because the gameplay videos I have seen seem to indicate that the stealth part of the game only works because the AI is really fucking terrible, and vision/detection of the guards is really tightly limited.

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Thu Oct 18, 2012 3:47 am

So, it's a typical stealth game?

Are there any that don't depend on "terrible" (standard) AI and limited detection radius?

Also, new DLC for Crusader Kings. It is now possible for the Byzantine Empire to repair the Great Schism and reform the Roman Empire, assuming they can fight off all Islam and their own infighti--- haha, no. The new faction system makes trying to run the Empire even more of a tremendous bitch.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Thu Oct 18, 2012 4:51 am

Actually, the detection/AI is...analogue.

It's fucking EASY to sneak by enemies who're in conversation with each other, pass a certain distance. You can get away with more noise. One of the powers let you see their visual cones (among other things). Ones who're actually patrolling or they're by themselves, they're tougher. If you walk by in the open, though, you're still going to get spotted, so you have to stick to cover or at least as far away from the visual cones as you can.

I can't swear to it, but I -think- once a guard spots you, he's quicker on the draw if you happen to slip up again and be seen again, by him. Even if his alert meter went away.

I also happen to know, if you break some glass or make some deliberately loud noise--I shot a gun once, to see what would happen--all the damn guards are coming for you. Same thing for alarms. Trying to stealth some parts are damn hard because even if you take the See-through-walls power, someone might be out of range and find a body you stashed, and hit the alarms.

The levels are pretty damn big. Multiple ways to a goal. Several different approaches for each target. Stuff you do in one level, can affect later missions (each mission has its own enclosed area, pretty much). So I found a skeleton key in one mission, that turned out to be damn handy for the next one. Similarly, in one mission, you can find a party invite which you can use to get into the house in the next mission.

I'm consistently surprised at how much I miss when I think I've turned over every stone. It's enough to warrant a couple of replays, anyway.

Melee combat is fairly nice. There's a decent parry mechanic. Timing does indeed matter, so it's not just "press attack until they die".

Inventive use and combination of powers will get you a long-ass way in the game.

As for length...it doesn't end when you think it does. You can figure on each mission taking an hour or two, if you're not bum-rushing everything (which, by the way, makes shit harder and harder because they increase the defenses/guards and you find more plague-infected). And I'm not huge on replays, myself, but this one...I want to. I'm playing nonlethal, and there's so much I haven't done, plenty of other toys to play with.

I'm not blindly recommending it. It has its flaws--Time Stop allows for all kinds of shenanigans, and it's only kept from being a total gamebreaker by its huge mana cost, and I was kinda surprised at how quickly the story moves from "We're just starting out" to "We've got them on the ropes!"--but it's a good game. If you're unsure, wait for the price to drop.

Ted the Flayer · Post by **Ted the Flayer** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 10:23 pm

I downloaded Harley Quinn's revenge last night and I've been playing it.

My observations so far (just after the Robin predator challenge)

Robin is not too bad. Other than being "not batman", he seems a bit more sturdy than Catwoman, but a bit sneakier than Bats. If it wasn't for the fact that the disarm freeflow gimmick didn't work. And it seems to not work for Batman anymore either, which I am not sure if the problem is me, or the game. Controls seem a bit off, and like they need to be a bit more exact than the normal playthrough. And putting explosive charges on people's back is funny.

Harley makes a really funny noise when you hit her. Which almost makes up for the fact that the predator sequence when you fight her is very similar to the catwoman vs. two face fight. Same respawning mooks, same rocket launcher. And it seems like mooks bunch up way more often in the dlc...

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Fri Oct 19, 2012 11:25 pm

Wait... predator as in a predatory animal, or predator as in Predator?

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 12:29 am

Shrapnel wrote:Wait... predator as in a predatory animal, or predator as in Predator?

In the Batman Arkham games, there's parts where you'll be locked in a room with a bunch of goons, who're carrying guns. If they see you, they'll mow you down in a hurry.

So the way to beat the room is to use stealth and gadgets and environment to whittle them down one-by-one.

Called the "predator" sections.

Ted the Flayer · Post by **Ted the Flayer** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 1:14 am

And it's done. I am a little disappointed how short the dlc was.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 1:26 am

Yeah, these days, longass DLC is far and few between.

Red Dead Redemption's Undead Nightmare was a good one. There's a Dark Souls expansion coming up next week. Kingdoms of Amalur had a couple of big DLC things that took a while to get through...Can't speak for Skyrim, because I don't have it.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 8:52 am

Legendaries captured: Moltres, Zapdos, Articuno, the non-wandering legendary dog, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Groudon, Mewtwo.

I re-defeated the Elite fourfive, and with one being Poison and another being Fighting, Mewtwo turns it into a complete joke. "Psychic --> OHKO --> repeat". So I then defeated AshRed. That was a hard one, but thanks to Dragonite and Mewtwo, it was a success.

The "now have a 1Gen starter" and "now have a 3Gen starter" prizes were awesome. I now have Combusken and Charizard to go along with Typhlosion. And despite having, for all intents and purposes, won the game, I still want to go and breed an Ice Punch Sneasel, a Bellyzard and so on.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 10:19 am

Just caught Kyurem with a dusk ball, using Tangela and Samurott, after about 15 tries using various mixes of sleep move pokemon and false swipers.

It is now called St(o)n(e)C(o)ldB(i)tch in tribute to what a fucking colossal whore it was to catch.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 11:34 am

I love how you originally couldn't trade pokemon with swear words in their names, like Froslass, Nosepass and Co[EDITED]rigus.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 12:06 pm

So...

I'm just past 4 Gyms in Black 2, and it is at the very least a vast improvement over Black, although much worse than Heart Gold/Soul Silver... so far, I'm liking it about as much as Platinum, maybe a little more, maybe a little less.

The good:
-Cheren and Bianca aren't around to annoy you all the time.
-You instead get a nameable rival to annoy you significantly less (like all rivals he goes on the "I must become strong" crap, but w/e)
-There are no rambling moral monologues from Cheren, Professor Juniper, and/or Team Plasma.
-Team Plasma now are basically just Team Rocket, only they look more like Cobra soldiers.
-There are some Gen 1-4 Pokemon to catch even before you reach your first Gym.
-The PokeStar studio is pretty fun to mess around with.
-You get a big glossy magazine with the game, with a surprisingly well-drawn (if poorly written) comic, as a second manual (although this might be limited-time.)

The bad:
-Cheren and Bianca still exist (the former is the first Gym Leader, mysteriously much weaker than in the previous game, and doesn't seem to follow you after beating him; the latter is the Professor's Assistant and so delivers you shit and explains what it is) albeit in a much lesser form.
-Alder also still exists, and the pedophile vibe is much worse this time around (he literally keeps 2 children for you to battle with in his house)
-Your rival doesn't shut up about "Pokemon thieves," which gets kind of annoying (although it's not much more than "Rawr! I hate Team Plasma! They steal Pokemon!") after the first few times.
-The giant city that plays "Dancing Queen" in the background is still annoying.
-Electric Bee Model Woman now looks like an anime Lady Gaga and still has that fucking Pachirisu with wings taped to it that makes it really fucking hard for anyone who doesn't have a Rock/Ground to beat her (a friend gave me a Larvitar Egg that made it really easy to beat; otherwise, I'd be cursing at this much more like I did in Black)
-The gimmicky Gyms from the previous games have been remodeled to be even more gimmicky.

The ugly:
Alder's hideous face, and a number of the Gen 5 Pokemon.

More to come, if anyone is interested.

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 12:33 pm

Maxus wrote:
Shrapnel wrote:Wait... predator as in a predatory animal, or predator as in Predator?
In the Batman Arkham games, there's parts where you'll be locked in a room with a bunch of goons, who're carrying guns. If they see you, they'll mow you down in a hurry.

So the way to beat the room is to use stealth and gadgets and environment to whittle them down one-by-one.

Called the "predator" sections.

Ah, I see.

I asked because there was a (rather badass) mini-series in which Batman fights a Predator alien, and was wondering if that was a referance to it. Oh, well.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 12:46 pm

Darth Rabbitt wrote: More to come, if anyone is interested.

More! I always want to hear bad things about 5Gen.

Though now I think I might buy it, if it's ~Platinum. I mean, HGSS are the (and I hate myself for saying this) gold standard of Pokemon, I don't expect anything else to meet its greatness. How much do you benefit from the wireless Internet connecting thing that I won't have access to? Like, I get that I won't get any Special Event pokemon - as an Ausfailian I've always accepted that back from when you had to show up somewhere to plug it into a special machine, now that you just need to connect to the Internet in a manner that isn't available it's no different. But if too much of it requires wi-fi (the Friend Street thing sounds really cool, for instance), then there's no point.

Ted the Flayer · Post by **Ted the Flayer** » Sat Oct 20, 2012 3:06 pm

Maxus wrote:Yeah, these days, longass DLC is far and few between.

Red Dead Redemption's Undead Nightmare was a good one. There's a Dark Souls expansion coming up next week. Kingdoms of Amalur had a couple of big DLC things that took a while to get through...Can't speak for Skyrim, because I don't have it.

Dawnguard was really long, but annoying because it'll randomly spawn vampires near the front door of towns with annoying frequency. You have to either deal with losing most of your merchants (for some reason, merchants crowd the front doors when you fast travel even when their stores are on the other side for some reason), or you have to feload when vampires spawn and fast trevel to towns you don't give a shit about so they can kill people there. Since I have the chronic problem of always running out of merchants that have money, that's a huge problem for me. Standard YMMV applies. But it adds a lot of content.

Hearthfire is kind of neat, but the fact you have to get supplies to build all the furniture individually and they STILL appear in pre-determined spots gets a downvote. But it's cheap, and if you want to be able to buy a patch of land and get a semi-customizable house, a stewart, and adopt children, go nuts.