Video Games

PhoneLobster · Post by **PhoneLobster** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 1:36 am

So anyway. I have a Nintendo 2DS now.

So I'm like "Well how about that, Shin Megami Tensei IV is out! I'm so getting that!"

Only ITS NOT OUT. It is out in Japan. It has been out in the US since mid year. It was SUPPOSED to be out in the EU, and subsequently here like, a month ago. But it isn't out. And the date is currently been changed to ??? on every damn Australian web site.

Turns out ATLAS are total asses when it comes to international distribution. Especially EU and DOUBLE especially Australia. And the 3ds era or Nintendo hand helds turns out to be fucking region locked.

Now no one on the interwebs seems to even know precisely WHO is supposed to be responsible for distributing this game. SOME suggest its some bullshit EU regionalisation company that happens to be made out of ass so badly that the most recent Shin Megami Tensei game on the shelves in the EU and Australia originates from 1999. Others suggest that of all things Nintendo is handling distribution on this one... and has basically decided to screw the EU/Australia region to push sales of Pokemon X/Y instead.

So I was like "Screw it I'll get number III, it was the AWESOME one where they KNOCKED IT UP A NOTCH with three super flying tanks invading hell via Antarctica and... you can't get that in Australia, not sure you EVER COULD.

This thing is even available, right now I'm pretty sure, for purchase by download in the USA. It's stupid big for your memory card, but its out there. But hey OCEANS ON THE INTERWEBS...

Leress · Post by **Leress** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 1:56 am

So I was like "Screw it I'll get number III, it was the AWESOME one where they KNOCKED IT UP A NOTCH with three super flying tanks invading hell via Antarctica and... you can't get that in Australia, not sure you EVER COULD.

SMT III was Nocturne, Strange Journey was suppose to be 4 but then they changed their mind for some reason.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 10:37 am

so, appearantly double fine made a kinda dorf fortress in space . .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y12sp3oyg9I
how did this go by largely undetected? O.o

Aryxbez · Post by **Aryxbez** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 11:11 pm

Leress wrote:Another few RPGs I forgot to mention was Dragon Quest 8, Rogue Galaxy, Summoner and Dark Cloud 2 (more action-Rpg). If you want a good laugh play Lord of the Rings: Third Age aka You got LOTR fanfiction in my FFX. Also don't play Drakengard 1 and 2 but read the LPs of those.

I actually considered mentioning the first two, but Rogue Galaxy being Real-time, wasn't really relevant to the original request. I suppose may've not mentioned DQ8, as it's very time consuming with the whole alchemy, power leveling, and even optimization for post-content. I've never played the Dark Clouds, but know of them, and here they were good. I've watched 3rd Age once, and similar with Summoner, but never played them.

I still like Drakengard, even if it was something I played nearly 7 years ago, and had some frustrations. Like how armies fired back weird spittle, when ye tried to scorch them with your Dragon's breath weapon, and the final boss. Seemed like the 2nd game was pretty lame though, but I'm guessing the surface appearance of it is a ruse to go darker later? I also really like NIER, especially when I learned its relation to Drakengard.

As for Tales games, wonder if more RPG's should implement the skit system?

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 11:36 pm

Oh, one more thing about Ar Tonelico: since it's set in musical computer towers it has a pretty great soundtrack, with major events accompanied by singing ranging from fairly even to the ridiculously bombastic music associated with the second game's ridiculously overpowered game breaker.

K · Post by K » Sun Oct 20, 2013 8:58 am

Warlock II us being made, and this time they've decided to channel my inner 13-year-old DnD player.

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 12:25 am

As someone who plays tabletop RPGs, I found the Stanley Parable remake was even funnier than I expected.

TarkisFlux · Post by **TarkisFlux** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 8:32 am

Yeah, playing it with my wife who didn't see the original mod has been a lot of fun.

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 12:35 am

So I hear there's a new Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney game coming out, anyone else getting it?

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 5:28 pm

The fanmade translation patch for Investigations 2 is also out, and though it only covers the first 2 cases, it's still pretty excellent.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 6:17 pm

Batman get.

But I have to go to work before I can actually fire the game up

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Sat Oct 26, 2013 6:31 pm

I'm Playing Batman: Arkham Origins

by Maxus

It's a prequel to Arkham Asylum, set a year into Bruce Wayne's career as Batman. It's Christmas Eve, and Alfred is hinting rather strongly he'd like to have Christmas dinner and swap presents with Bruce Wayne, rather than run support for Batman.

But Black Mask is making a big move--he's out to kill Commissioner Loeb of Gotham PD, and he's also brought in eight assassins who're gunning for Batman. If they complete it in a single night, they get $50 million and fame. Alfred points out that to foil them, all Batman has to do is stay in all night and maybe have Christmas dinner and swap presents.

Batman figures they'll take hostages and he ought to go out and kick the crap out of the ungodly. And, as usual, the major sidequest of the game is the Riddler, who says he's going to release all his blackmail material on Christmas morning and there's going to riots in the streets and public lynchings once it all hits the public awareness.

Anyway. Batman has a lot of his gadgets at the starting point--explosive gel, the radio hacker, smoke pellet, and the like. You also already have the grappling hook accelerator, which lets you use a ledge to slingshot yourself into a fast glide. This is a bit puzzling to me, because that didn't show up until Arkham City and it was made out like Batman was a bit leery of using it until he was certain he had the reflexes and practice in place to handle being hauled at high-speed towards roof edges and gargoyles.

It's even more puzzling because from a consistency point of view, they did their homework. The area that became Arkham City is part of the game map; the layout and a lot of landmarks are there. That glass-covered walkway in the Penguins turf that I mainly remember for the glide challenges? That's there.

Even some of the characters have some internal consistency brought it; Killer Croc is smaller and not -quite- as monstrous looking, and they bring up his progressive disease/atavism and how he just hasn't stopped growing and might never do so. And it's brilliant, because this is a younger Croc, by some years.

Anyway, I'm still in the early part of things. I've opened up the Riddler puzzles--they seem to be not as elaborate as Arkham City. I don't know if they have any more gameplay bits, but it seems there's some different special moves and they place a bigger emphasis on the challenges maps--completing challenges can reward you with gear upgrades.

rampaging-poet · Post by **rampaging-poet** » Wed Oct 30, 2013 10:19 pm

I've gotten back to Dark Souls recently, and it's time to gear up for the final boss. My current set of armour is the +10 Steel plate with the helm, gauntlets, and leggings from the Paladin set. It looks like going full Paladin would give me about 20 better fire defence than full steel (and take less time to grind for), but full steel will give me about +30 physical defence. Also, I'm trying to decide whether to upgrade a Balder Side Sword to +5 Chaos or just stick with my Black Knight Sword. The Black Knight Sword is dealing 360 physical + 143 from stat scaling, so I don't know if a Chaos sword can get enough damage to work out. Any advice?

In other news, I started playing Terraria the other day. While I'm not as adverse to exploring in Terraria as I am in Minecraft, I still don't really know what I should be doing. I've got a few houses set up, but no other NPCs have spawned yet. So far I've been exploring a cave I found near my house and I got killed by a falling boulder trap. A boomerang I found in the cave really helped me fight off monsters at night.

Sigil · Post by **Sigil** » Wed Oct 30, 2013 10:45 pm

I've also been playing quite a bit of Terraria lately, so I have a bit of advice.

#1 thing to do in Terraria right now? Collect stuff the costumes from the halloween update, the goodie bags they come in will only drop until November 10th. But you kind of do that automatically really.

A lot of the NPCs only appear once certain conditions are met, the merchant only appears once you have 50 silver (I think 50) in your inventory, the gun dealer only appears once you have a gun that needs ammo, etc.

Right now, I'd focus on getting enough metals to upgrade your stuff, pickaxe first. You want to get at least a gold/platinum tier pickaxe so that you can mine ore from the crimson/corruption (whichever your world has). Then use that ore to make a new pickaxe that can mine hellstone. Then use THAT ore to make a molten pickaxe that can mine anything pre hard mode.

If you find a Suspicious Looking Eye or Bloody Spine, and have found some decent weapons already, you can skip the gold tier pickaxe by summoning and killing one of the lowest tier bosses, which drop the crimson/corruption ores when beat. If you find some explosives (bombs/dynamite) you can also blow your way through the stone in the corruption/crimson to get to those hearts/spheres and break them. They each contain a decent item, and when you break three you can also fight the aforementioned boss.

DSMatticus · Post by **DSMatticus** » Wed Oct 30, 2013 11:08 pm

NPC's have specific spawning requirements. All of them need a home to live in. Basically it's a fully-enclosed rectangular space at least 8 wide and 4 tall with a door, a background wall, a chair, a table, a light source, and at least four spaces of floor without any furniture or decoration or whatever. It's a little more complicated than that and there are substitutions you can pull, but whatever. Each NPC also has specific requierments, like the merchant needing you to have a certain amount of money, the nurse showing up after you've used a crystal heart, and the arms dealer showing up once you've held a gun. You have a housing menu that will tell you what is and is not valid housing (when it isn't wrong) and will let you assign NPC's to specific homes (which are probably more likely rooms in a large complex). And I have been thoroughly ninja'd on all of this and the next part.

Early Terraria is dig shiny rocks out of the ground > smash orbs in the corruption > stab the first two bosses in the face > visit the dungeon and/or jungle. While upgrading your equipment along the way with the shiny rocks/remains of your enemies.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Thu Oct 31, 2013 12:04 am

Yeah, I was really confused at first because I made all these rooms, but with beds, not with tables and chairs. Because who needs somewhere to sleep, WE NEED TO SIT DOWN FOR DINNER!

Some NPCs are found in the Dungeon, but you can only go there (and not be insta-killed) after you kill Skeletron. Note that Skeletron is the hardest of the bosses before Hardmode (possibly not including Wall of Flesh).

Finally found a Hellforge, so I can start on making an Orichalcum Forge so I can then go Titanium etcetera. I shouldn't have used all my Orichalcum in making new armour, but the extra protection is really handy against the wolves and unicorns.

And Halloween is awesome there. SLIMES WEARING MONSTER COSTUMES!

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Thu Oct 31, 2013 5:22 am

I love playing a summoner. Your army of spear-chucking pygmies and a single frost hydra can really pile on the damage, and you just need to stay safely out of the way. Chuck some ichor or vampire knives when you get the chance and otherwise just relax. Nobody is going to interrupt your building/mining anymore.

The Halloween update was especially funny for me because at first I thought the monster costumes were glitches and I uninstalled all my mods. So much for Red Cloud.

DSMatticus · Post by **DSMatticus** » Thu Oct 31, 2013 6:54 am

Beds count as comfort items, so provided you give them a place to sleep and a table to have dinner at, they will forgive you the lack of chairs. They will also accept a piano instead of a table, because they are both sufficiently flat (pun unintended). I don't know if this means Terraria NPC's can substitute music for biological necessities or if they are just a bunch of vulgar savages who would eat off a piano. But basically, homes need an item off the "comfort" list and an item off the "flat" list, and chair+table is the cheapest way to do that.

Also, the Wall of Flesh is a puzzle monster, so while numerically more intimidating than Skeletron good prep and strategy completely negate his most damaging attacks (badtouching you with the hungries or his body) and then he can't out-DPS your ability to potion.

rampaging-poet · Post by **rampaging-poet** » Fri Nov 01, 2013 9:55 pm

I've got three houses with tables and chairs. The in-game tool says they're valid houses, and the guide is assigned to one of them. I guess I need to start carrying some money instead of leaving it all in my box to get a merchant to spawn. Other than that, it's back to the mysterious cave to see if I can find more shiny rocks, just like Minecraft except I'm actually willing to enter the cave.

I tried some Darksouls PvP in the Kiln while farming Dark Knights for titanite chunks, but it looks like I'm too low level for it. I have a Chaos Balder Side Sword +4, but after testing on the Silver Knights in Anor Londo my Black Knight Sword does more damage even with 10 humanity. Unless the final boss has a ridiculously low fire defense I'll stick to the Black Knight Sword. I also have a +5 Black Knight Greatsword now, but I think it might be too slow to be useful.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Sat Nov 02, 2013 12:44 am

PVP...you get people +/- 10% of your level. Unless you're invading, and then you can invade someone higher level than you. Some of them LIVE for this.

Personally, I switched over the Black Knight Greataxe. It's a little slower than the sword, but it's got more reach and power and stat scaling, and a couple of nice moves (the one-handed strong attack is a leaping overhead slash, a la Zelda).

rampaging-poet · Post by **rampaging-poet** » Sat Nov 02, 2013 1:58 am

I'm level 91, and according the the wiki the standard PvP level is 120 (barring low-level invasions and the like). I didn't have any luck waiting for invaders, possibly due to my time zone, so I dropped a red sign. I got summoned a few minutes later, a Spirit of Vengeance invaded before I could fight the host (or maybe that was the plan), and I got taken out in two hits by homing black magic darts. I pretty much gave up after that. I'll try again when I'm higher level and/or new game plus.

I'll have to give the axe a try. A regular battleaxe was my main weapon early in the game before I found the Drake Sword. I might try to level my stamina up enough to use medium armour, a weapon, and a shield without Havel's Ring. I may need to switch to a lighter weapon for that to work, but I think I'm only ~7 levels out and I know a few good places to farm souls. I've got a fully upgraded Grass Crest Shield (normal path), but I'm thinking of switching that out for a shield with better fire resist and eating grass for the buff instead.

I've been practising parries on the Silver Knights as well. If I can get the timing down, heavy armour and parrying may be the way to go for the boss. I'll need to study his attack patterns more first though. Most of his sword attacks seemed similar to the black knights but faster. I'll definitely carry ten or so humanity next time I'm serious about fighting him though - I need the defence and it won't take long to get that back farming pygmy skeletons if I have to.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Sat Nov 02, 2013 2:18 am

The Black Knight Shield blocks 95% of fire damage.

Which is hilarious, because black knights themselves are weak to it.

The black magic thing sounds like one of the DLC spells. They do physical damage--which means blocking them takes a huge hunk out of your stamina.

One of my spots to grind humanity was the library in the Duke's archives. I'd go to the bonfire there, and go down and kill the squid-headed snakeladies.

I'd keep Havel's ring, and find some set of armor; I like the Paladin armor, myself, it's got good all-around stats, but you can get an interesting amount of protection with the robe and hood of the gold-trimmed black set, and Havel's gauntlets and leggings.

rampaging-poet · Post by **rampaging-poet** » Sat Nov 02, 2013 2:44 am

DLC spell makes sense: I'm on PC so most people probably have Prepare to Die Edition.

I've got fully upgraded Paladin armour. I'm wearing everything except the chest piece right now. I'll have to try out pieces of Havel's set too. I haven't used it much since I got it because it was so heavy, but I've upgraded my stamina since then. I also haven't tried the gold-trimmed black set, but I've heard it's good.

I haven't tried farming the snake-women, but using the pygmies skeletons by Nito means never returning to the bonfire. With 410 item find I can pull in enough humanity to use it for healing when I make a mistake and still make a profit. The only problem with that spot is the drops disappear quickly enough that you usually have to spam "pick up" right after killing a few in hopes they dropped some.

EDIT: In some ways, Dark Souls is the Legend of Zelda game I always wanted. There's a wide variety of weapons, reasonably varied enemies to use them on, and very few wrong choices. The way the early game encourages switching between weapons depending on the situation is also a plus.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Sat Nov 02, 2013 3:24 am

rampaging-poet wrote:DLC spell makes sense: I'm on PC so most people probably have Prepare to Die Edition.

I've got fully upgraded Paladin armour. I'm wearing everything except the chest piece right now. I'll have to try out pieces of Havel's set too. I haven't used it much since I got it because it was so heavy, but I've upgraded my stamina since then. I also haven't tried the gold-trimmed black set, but I've heard it's good.

I haven't tried farming the snake-women, but using the pygmies skeletons by Nito means never returning to the bonfire. With 410 item find I can pull in enough humanity to use it for healing when I make a mistake and still make a profit. The only problem with that spot is the drops disappear quickly enough that you usually have to spam "pick up" right after killing a few in hopes they dropped some.

EDIT: In some ways, Dark Souls is the Legend of Zelda game I always wanted. There's a wide variety of weapons, reasonably varied enemies to use them on, and very few wrong choices. The way the early game encourages switching between weapons depending on the situation is also a plus.

I used the snake-women because I could kill the whole lot of them with two Wrath of Gods and get 3 or so humanity a trip, thanks to Homeward.

Whereas the baby skeletons scare the shit out of me.

The main benefit to the Havel set is it's got stupidly high poise and armor. The legs alone are as strong as the breastplates and such of a lot of other armor sets.

The gold-trimmed set gives surprisingly nice benefits, it's armor isn't the best, of course, but it gives good poison resist and other fringe benefits. You do look like a ringwraith, though.

rampaging-poet · Post by **rampaging-poet** » Sat Nov 02, 2013 4:02 am

I have absolutely no faith and only one attunement slot, so fighting more than one of anything I can't kill in one hit is a bad idea. I found drawing them away one by one to be too tedious.

The baby skeletons scared me when I first ran into them too. They snuck up on me while I was shooting the pinwheels. I don't mind fighting them now, but I still have to be careful because if they surround me it's over. I usually use my spear against them for the faster attack speed.

I haven't needed poison resist much since Blightown, so I don't think I'll use the gold-trimmed black set right now. I'll definitely try out Havel's helm or leggings if nothing else.

In Terraria news, I carried some money around and suddenly three more people showed up. I also found a bunch of platinum ore, but not enough to make anything useful out of yet.