The "Currently Playing..." Topic

2010-03-24 11:37:16 am

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

That's still my only major gripe with the Pokemon games, is the necessity to waste space with the HMs. They could restrict your movement in exactly the same way, but have your character use them instead, which'd leave you with a full team of six chosen Pokemon to actually use.

Prime Hunter

2010-03-24 11:45:17 am

Quote from tomatobob:

Wrapped up Half-Life 2 Episode 2, should have done it last night but my actually good at the game time was used up in "Under the Radar" I figure it came to an end right about the time I finished my powerslide to the gate of White Forest well ahead of Dog. Seriously, right after I did the part where you have to take out that Combine auto gun I became some unstoppable bad ass, driving around like Steve McQueen, road killing zombies like it weren't no thang, smoothly alternating between shotgunning zombies and tossing barrels at them with pinpoint accuracy, and also being a scary good crossbow sniper. Aaannnnd then I hit Silo 2 and got my shit kicked in by the Hunters, then the Overwatch dudes that followed them, then the other Hunter, and the Overwatch dudes in the silo proper. It was pretty sad. Then I went on to air ball an impressive number of Magnussons in the Strider battle at the end, after a silly number of retries and one game freeze I just went to bed because it was getting silly. Came back tonight, and after a rough start, owned the shit out of those Striders and their asshole Hunter escorts.

Hah, that's a good recap of those last few areas, and kinda reminds me of my first time through that. The end of Episode 2 is one of my favorite parts of the entire Half-Life 2 storyline because of how different it is compared to most of the other fights you have. Definitely gives you a sense of impending doom as you're racing around trying to mop up the one or two striders that somehow made it past you and are setting off the alarm next to the base. No matter how well I seem to be doing, there's always that one time where I end up being overwhelmed by the assault and have to do some crazy maneuvering to get things under control. Things definitely improved for me once I found out you can run over the Hunters if you aim the car at them properly, because my first few attempts at that segment were complete disasters with enemies everywhere and looking like they were popping out of the ground since there were so many of them.

[quote="tomatobob"]Wrapped up Half-Life 2 Episode 2, should have done it last night but my actually good at the game time was used up in "Under the Radar" I figure it came to an end right about the time I finished my powerslide to the gate of White Forest well ahead of Dog. Seriously, right after I did the part where you have to take out that Combine auto gun I became some unstoppable bad ass, driving around like Steve McQueen, road killing zombies like it weren't no thang, smoothly alternating between shotgunning zombies and tossing barrels at them with pinpoint accuracy, and also being a scary good crossbow sniper. Aaannnnd then I hit Silo 2 and got my shit kicked in by the Hunters, then the Overwatch dudes that followed them, then the other Hunter, and the Overwatch dudes in the silo proper. It was pretty sad. Then I went on to air ball an impressive number of Magnussons in the Strider battle at the end, after a silly number of retries and one game freeze I just went to bed because it was getting silly. Came back tonight, and after a rough start, owned the shit out of those Striders and their asshole Hunter escorts.[/quote]
Hah, that's a good recap of those last few areas, and kinda reminds me of my first time through that. The end of Episode 2 is one of my favorite parts of the entire Half-Life 2 storyline because of how different it is compared to most of the other fights you have. Definitely gives you a sense of impending doom as you're racing around trying to mop up the one or two striders that somehow made it past you and are setting off the alarm next to the base. No matter how well I seem to be doing, there's always that one time where I end up being overwhelmed by the assault and have to do some crazy maneuvering to get things under control. Things definitely improved for me once I found out you can run over the Hunters if you aim the car at them properly, because my first few attempts at that segment were complete disasters with enemies everywhere and looking like they were popping out of the ground since there were so many of them.

Da Dood

2010-03-24 12:25:52 pm

Dood Trigger™

Quote from ryu:

Bought Shattered Memories on the day I got Estpolis.

The story is beautiful, you'll definitely want to replay. And the game is really short, which only helps. ^^

About the Nightmares, they kinda grew on me. At first I thought they were scary, then I thought they were annoying because I could never find my way out, but then I figured that's sort of the whole point.

Great game.

arkarian

Edit history:

arkarian: 2010-03-24 01:08:10 pm

2010-03-24 01:07:42 pm

red chamber dream

guess i remember less of hl2e2 than i thought. tbob's above post rung no bells for me.

TheGreenManalishi

2010-03-24 02:17:29 pm

Quote from Quietus:

That's still my only major gripe with the Pokemon games, is the necessity to waste space with the HMs. They could restrict your movement in exactly the same way, but have your character use them instead, which'd leave you with a full team of six chosen Pokemon to actually use.

This is half true, because moves like Surf and Fly are pretty good. It's just about every other HM move that you really don't want to use inside a battle.

BTW, my entire opinion on things like this are based on 1st and 2nd gens.

nn12000

2010-03-24 02:34:22 pm

Mister ...

Quote from Quietus:

Quote from nn12000:

Believe it or not, I'm actually enjoying it. ... they each got KO'd in their first battle.

I don't suppose it was Spiky Tiger, by any chance? If it was, don't panic. He is notoriously difficult for that stage of the game. He's the only boss in the game that gives me any grief, evan after my usual level up whoring. The rest of the game is much more balanced.

Actually, no. The first enemies I encountered after getting each member is right where they got KO'd at. Spiky Tiger was actually a decent fight, either no one died or they were all dead before I started it. Since then, they've been doing pretty well.

Except now I'm at that flame demon, getting my ass kicked, so I have to go grind a bit. Sprite is usually the first one downed, generally followed by Princess, leaving me to try to beat up on the thing by myself for another pass until he KO's me as well. I have this nagging feeling that leveling up their magic a bit is gonna be key. That, or just power-housing.

I might have a friend come over this weekend, so that'll help at least a little bit.

[quote="Quietus"][quote="nn12000"]Believe it or not, I'm actually enjoying it.  ...  they each got KO'd in their first battle.[/quote]
I don't suppose it was Spiky Tiger, by any chance?  If it was, don't panic.  He is notoriously difficult for that stage of the game.  He's the only boss in the game that gives me any grief, evan after my usual level up whoring.  The rest of the game is much more balanced.[/quote]
Actually, no.  The first enemies I encountered after getting each member is right where they got KO'd at.  Spiky Tiger was actually a decent fight, either no one died or they were all dead before I started it.  Since then, they've been doing pretty well.

Except now I'm at that flame demon, getting my ass kicked, so I have to go grind a bit.  Sprite is usually the first one downed, generally followed by Princess, leaving me to try to beat up on the thing by myself for another pass until he KO's me as well.  I have this nagging feeling that leveling up their magic a bit is gonna be key.  That, or just power-housing.

I might have a friend come over this weekend, so that'll help at least a little bit.

arkarian

2010-03-24 03:46:01 pm

red chamber dream

Quote from TheGreenManalishi:

Quote from Quietus:

That's still my only major gripe with the Pokemon games, is the necessity to waste space with the HMs. They could restrict your movement in exactly the same way, but have your character use them instead, which'd leave you with a full team of six chosen Pokemon to actually use.

This is half true, because moves like Surf and Fly are pretty good. It's just about every other HM move that you really don't want to use inside a battle.

fly actually sucks, but it works fine in the main game. waterfall is easily the best hm move. plenty of ou teams today put it on gyarados; it's the best physical water attack in the game afaik.

TheGreenManalishi

2010-03-24 04:05:34 pm

I'd dispute that Fly sucks, but someone would probably just confuse me with silly stats about EV whoring or some bollocks. I remember when Pokemon was simple and pure. It's one of the few things I'm old enough to be curmudgeonly about, so I'm going to run with it.

Quietus

2010-03-24 04:27:29 pm

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

Quote from nn12000:

I have this nagging feeling that leveling up their magic a bit is gonna be key.

Regarding magic: (This is akin to cheatin', so don't do it unless you're REALLY stuck.)

Stay controlling the guy or the girl, and then bring up the Sprite's magic ring. Cast whatever spell you think the enemy is weak against, and as soon as the elemental disappears, you can cast again, spaming the bosses to death. You'll have to stop every three or four spells for the damage to register, but a well-timed break can mean that he still doesn't get to move. This doesn't work with spells like fireball, as you have to wait for the actual fireballs to hit first.

Again, I'd recommend you make do without it first, as it can really kill all difficulty in the game.

Oh, and one other tip, for waaaaaaay later in the game (no spoiler's coming), when you're on the train, be VERY careful. There's an enemy at the end who spawns Needlions (hedgehogs), and you normally face them with much better gear. They will annihilate you if you aren't careful.

[quote="nn12000"]I have this nagging feeling that leveling up their magic a bit is gonna be key.[/quote]
Regarding magic: (This is akin to cheatin', so don't do it unless you're REALLY stuck.)
[spoiler]Stay controlling the guy or the girl, and then bring up the Sprite's magic ring.  Cast whatever spell you think the enemy is weak against, and as soon as the elemental disappears, you can cast again, spaming the bosses to death.  You'll have to stop every three or four spells for the damage to register, but a well-timed break can mean that he still doesn't get to move.  This doesn't work with spells like fireball, as you have to wait for the actual fireballs to hit first.[/spoiler]
Again, I'd recommend you make do without it first, as it can really kill all difficulty in the game.

Oh, and one other tip, for waaaaaaay later in the game (no spoiler's coming), when you're on the train, be VERY careful.  There's an enemy at the end who spawns Needlions (hedgehogs), and you normally face them with much better gear.  They will annihilate you if you aren't careful.

ryu

2010-03-24 04:27:38 pm

Fly used to be good in gen I and maybe genII, but there are many better flying type moves out now.

TheGreenManalishi

2010-03-24 04:33:57 pm

That's the thing, there seems to be a massive saturation of the amount of moves in the more recent generations. there's too many moves that are too extreme and, since almost every Pokemon is more than one type now, they all have too many moves available to them.

That's how I feel about gaming as it is today - saturated. There's a focus on quantity as opposed to quality, because after the rise of 3D gaming, it has bcome about big bucks, primarily. And one good game won't make as much as three mediocre ones.

Don't get me wrong, clearly some devs put their heart and soul into every game they make, but the industry, like all indutries, is fickle when it comes to achieving its' one and only purpose - profit.

arkarian

Edit history:

arkarian: 2010-03-24 05:05:01 pm

2010-03-24 05:04:26 pm

red chamber dream

play wario land 6. about as pure of an experience as i can think of.

but yeah i used to use fly all the time in gen 1 - against bruno in particular. was always hilarious when his hitmonlee used hi jump kick then "kept going and crashed". like i said, it's a fine move in the maingame since opponents' pokes rarely do anything but use standard damaging attacks and almost never switch out.
but if you're playing against someone who knows any strategy at all, using a move that hits a turn later is fucking retarded.

tomatobob

2010-03-24 05:15:53 pm

One shall stand, one shall ball.

Quote from Prime Hunter:

Things definitely improved for me once I found out you can run over the Hunters if you aim the car at them properly, because my first few attempts at that segment were complete disasters with enemies everywhere and looking like they were popping out of the ground since there were so many of them.

The thing that made the whole thing so much easier for me was that Hunters seem to dodge dodge the car 90% of the time if I hit the turbo but rarely did when I didn't. I don't know if it was just my luck at that point or what, but I didn't use turbo at all for running them over on my successful attempt and only one of them did that annoying hop to the side at the last minute thing. But yeah, until I could roadkill them consistently it seemed like they were everywhere. That's kinda why I like them though, once they show up they really could be anywhere at any time kicking your ass.

Quote from arkarian:

guess i remember less of hl2e2 than i thought. tbob's above post rung no bells for me.

Should replay it then, it's a good game. Way better than Ep1.

Quote from TheGreenManalishi:

I'd dispute that Fly sucks, but someone would probably just confuse me with silly stats about EV whoring or some bollocks. I remember when Pokemon was simple and pure.

It sucked before all that EV whatever the fuck shit came up though, taking two turns for one attack is dumb. Is Flying ever even a worthwhile move type by the time Fly pops up? My last experience with Pokemon was 3rd gen and I can't recall ever really needing that sort of move towards the end. Seems like anything it can do can be done better by everything else.

[quote="Prime Hunter"]Things definitely improved for me once I found out you can run over the Hunters if you aim the car at them properly, because my first few attempts at that segment were complete disasters with enemies everywhere and looking like they were popping out of the ground since there were so many of them.[/quote]
The thing that made the whole thing so much easier for me was that Hunters seem to dodge dodge the car 90% of the time if I hit the turbo but rarely did when I didn't. I don't know if it was just my luck at that point or what, but I didn't use turbo at all for running them over on my successful attempt and only one of them did that annoying hop to the side at the last minute thing. But yeah, until I could roadkill them consistently it seemed like they were everywhere. That's kinda why I like them though, once they show up they really [i]could[/i] be anywhere at any time kicking your ass.

[quote="arkarian"]guess i remember less of hl2e2 than i thought. tbob's above post rung no bells for me.[/quote]
Should replay it then, it's a good game. Way better than Ep1.

[quote="TheGreenManalishi"]I'd dispute that Fly sucks, but someone would probably just confuse me with silly stats about EV whoring or some bollocks. I remember when Pokemon was simple and pure.[/quote]
It sucked before all that EV whatever the fuck shit came up though, taking two turns for one attack is dumb. Is Flying ever even a worthwhile move type by the time Fly pops up? My last experience with Pokemon was 3rd gen and I can't recall ever really needing that sort of move towards the end. Seems like anything it can do can be done better by everything else.

tomatobob

2010-03-24 05:18:10 pm

One shall stand, one shall ball.

Quote from TheGreenManalishi:

That's how I feel about gaming as it is today - saturated. There's a focus on quantity as opposed to quality

That's always been Pokemon's thing though, hundreds of dudes and like twelve are actually decent.

Quote from TheGreenManalishi:

Don't get me wrong, clearly some devs put their heart and soul into every game they make

This is clearly not the case with Pokemon.

TheGreenManalishi

2010-03-24 05:20:11 pm

Not the later ones, but the first definitely had Miyamoto before Wii Music levels of soul.

arkarian

2010-03-24 05:24:59 pm

red chamber dream

i think dpp was more or less a return to form.

Poision Envy

2010-03-24 05:50:14 pm

Club 27 Goals

Bad company 2, Cave story, The Last Remnant, Divinity II - Ego Draconis, and Pokemon Heart Gold. I just finished downloading Just Cause 2.

I'm into too many games right now :X

ryu

2010-03-24 07:59:15 pm

Quote from Da Dood:

About the Nightmares, they kinda grew on me. At first I thought they were scary, then I thought they were annoying because I could never find my way out, but then I figured that's sort of the whole point.

The beginning of the first nightmare was pretty scary, because of how sudden it happened and how you didn't know anything but that monsters are supposed to come and get you. I was scared because I didn't know when they were supposed to appear.
But when they appeared it was really hilarous. Just running straight-forward while flinging off those things on the run was just too easy.

Too bad that changed quickly with the second nightmare. : / That one was way scarier with monsters not being as easy to throw off and generally being somewhat of a maze. Not to mention the sequence that introduced the nightmare. aiwebs_001

I'll be tackling Midwhich tomorrow. Going to be interesting to see how much they changed there.

Da Dood

2010-03-24 08:06:54 pm

Dood Trigger™

The spoilery place is completely different. Like the whole town, really...

Muramasa, Act 5, about six hours in, Level 25.

Icy mountains, nice change of background. I just advanced the story this time, not much exploring, though I did collect all treasures in all rooms I visited so far.

The boss was stunning. It's this huge muscular god dude in the sky. You fight his foot, then you hop on the foot and he takes you to the clouds, where he tries to punch you in the face. Really cool.

Still haven't forged a single sword, which I think is stupid given it's one of the game's most important features, but I have no idea what to make...

Toozin

2010-03-24 08:18:26 pm

Not impossible

just highly unlikely

Dude, just start forging. Soul and spirit are super easy to come by, and any sword you make opens up more swords to make later, so it's not like there's a critical descision to be made here.

Da Dood

Edit history:

Da Dood: 2010-03-24 09:02:22 pm

2010-03-24 08:50:48 pm

Dood Trigger™

I made a few of them to get to Suigetsu Muramasa, which has a pretty strong attack value (139, I think).

I did the hollow tree challenge with the toads. It was impossibly annoying until I realized I could get away with just crouch slashing all the way to the end. Easy! And I got an Accessory, the Ise Charm, that does something to the Soul recovery.

That's it for tonight.

EDIT: Love this guy.

nn12000

2010-03-25 07:55:36 pm

Mister ...

Still trekking through Secret of Mana. Currently at the Empire, seeking a way to the Ruins.

I love how my team randomly decides if they want to do really good or really bad. Sometimes they get killed almost immediately in the first room of a dungeon, other times we can clear out the whole thing with no issues. I really don't understand it, but whatever. Cheezing bosses really helps (Thanks, Quietus :D), though some are just easy enough without it.

I'm having so much fun with this game that I think I might actually finish it! :O

Mista_Smegheneghan

Edit history:

Mista_Smegheneghan: 2010-03-25 09:28:38 pm

Mista_Smegheneghan: 2010-03-25 09:28:22 pm

Mista_Smegheneghan: 2010-03-25 09:27:59 pm

2010-03-25 09:27:21 pm

Ready to internet!

Heart Gold. Playing it roughly all day. Beaten two gyms and the rival, although I lost to the rival once thanks to his Bayleef, and to Bugsy since I absent-mindedly pressed A in front of him.

Both of them tasted electric death at the hands of Flaaffy though (Scyther more than Bayleef... I threw sand in Bayleef's eyes after paralyzing it, and practically one HP from KO, it uses ****ing Synthesis)

Idkbutlike2

2010-03-25 09:28:29 pm

Whoa, Mista... I just got it today, I'm still way behind you...
I'm not even at the first gym yet. I'm too busy grinding and trying explore the towns in search of any weird changes.

Da Dood

2010-03-25 09:29:24 pm

Dood Trigger™

More Muramasa.

Act 7, 9 hours in.

Level 40, with 20 Blades owned. Decided to just pick an offensive value and follow the forging route to that one sword.

Two kinda cool levels, still repetitive, but visually beautiful. One of them took place on a series of roofs and a Japanese temple, the other one in... Hell.

The Act 5 boss was the easiest boss in the game so far, while the Act 6 boss reminded me of the frog in Yoshi's Island (Kamek would shrink Yoshi and you had to hit the frog from inside his stomach). Then you get out of the demon's belly and the fight "begins", with the towering dude and all. Even though the game's combat is very rewarding against waves of enemies, the boss fights are my most anticipated bits. They're closer to the IGA school of "boss is just a really big normal enemy", but they're still exciting.

I did my third Enemy Lair, which recommended Level 9 or superior, so... was I actually backtracking there? I really don't remember what general areas I've been through since they reuse the same archetypes on pretty much all of them. Got an Accessory.

More Muramasa.

Act 7, 9 hours in.

Level 40, with 20 Blades owned. Decided to just pick an offensive value and follow the forging route to that one sword.

Two kinda cool levels, still repetitive, but visually beautiful. One of them took place on a series of roofs and a Japanese temple, the other one in... Hell.

The Act 5 boss was the easiest boss in the game so far, while the Act 6 boss reminded me of the frog in Yoshi's Island (Kamek would shrink Yoshi and you had to hit the frog from inside his stomach). Then you get out of the demon's belly and the fight "begins", with the towering dude and all. Even though the game's combat is very rewarding against waves of enemies, the boss fights are my most anticipated bits. They're closer to the IGA school of "boss is just a really big normal enemy", but they're still exciting.

I did my third Enemy Lair, which recommended Level 9 or superior, so... was I actually backtracking there? I really don't remember what general areas I've been through since they reuse the same archetypes on pretty much all of them. Got an Accessory.