What Are You Currently Playing? 6.65: Neighbor of the Beast

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Glad you're enjoying it!

Execution-wise, stance changing to Ki-Pulse is easy enough. Actually remembering to do it constantly and using it effectively in the heat of battle is a bit more complex, though, especially since you'll want to be in a certain stance to use the specific attacks that you want to use.

The Katana is definitely a well-balanced weapon, but the patches really ended up needing it in the long run, IMO. The Dual Swords take more skill to use but have the best parry in the game.

The menus and general mechanics of this game are incredibly overwhelming, but once you get used to it the core systems aren't too hard to grasp.

[Mustang]

Is XLH Gladiator the only one who plays like that on Youtube? Everyone else I've seen so far is going for max damage type of build. That seems cool and all, but that seem like it'll get boring after a couple playthroughs. I mean I have moments where I want to feel like a badass just 1 shot hitting people all over the place as well, but I don't know, I wanna style and profile while looking like a badass at the same time.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Very few people can play like XLH in general, but these are videos designed to exhibit style over efficiency. In that regard it's no different than Ninja Gaiden or Devil May Cry. Playing the game just to beat it isn't necessarily all that flashy, but playing games of thus nature to master stylistic combat is the main draw, IMO.

That said, I tend not to overlevel my character and play with a lightweight armor build since that better suits my style and is a more fun challenge for me. In general, the game gives you the freedom to play how you want. You can certainly grind to be far more powerful than most basic enemies, which I find to be boring as sin. Or you can get just to a perfect spot that feels neither too ridiculously tough but also not too comfortably safe, either.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Just picked up Double Dragon IV on my Switch. So glad they decided to port it.

Now if only we could get Neon as well.

[Nel_Annette]

Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana

Enjoying it so far. I like how the island has very recognizable areas so you know where you are, and you can see other recognizable areas. I just wish there weren't so many transitions between each area like a KH game, and that you could just travel around without that. Also don't really care for the village defense stuff, but overall I like exploring. I've always been a sucker for "mysterious island" stories.

And if this takes place between Ys V and Ys VI, that mean Napishtim happens after this... meaning Adol and Dogi go through two shipwrecks in a row. XD Why did they do that anyway? Barring a few connections between the lore of the games, they're each pretty stand-alone, so I don't see why they couldn't just set it after VII.

Dana kind of reminds me of Tia from Ys VII design-wise. Blue hair and all.

Holy crap, the ending of chapter 2 threw me for a loop.

Spoiler

For all the usual anime talk of everybody working together despite their differences and all making me pretty comfortable and thinking I knew how things were going to go down, they sure weren't afraid to kill the living hell out of three characters in half an hour. Carlan's death, I actively cheered for. The Captain, I was genuinely sad about, and the doctor's was hilarious. He sets himself up to be a recurring villain and a dinosaur just eats his ass. I loved the mystery aspect but I did just want to end that plotline rather than drag it out, so I'm happy. And chapter 3 looks to be a complete change of pace, so I'm looking forward to that.

[close]

So yeah, besides the interceptions and some tedium doing sidequests (hate timed sidequests), I'm having a blast.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I'm not sure why the timeline for Ys is the way it is. I understand the purpose of setting IV before III due to the fact that Dogi had to rejoin Adol somewhere in order to explain why he's in III with Adol, but at this point you'd figure they'd just set them chronologically.

If anyone is confused, this is the Ys timeline:

Origin
I
II
IV
III
V
VIII
VI
VII

Oh wait, is Geis in the game? He first appears in VI and shows up again in VII. This may be an excuse to explain why he's not in the game.

[Nel_Annette]

I don't remember how VII ended; it's been years since I played it on PSP. Did Geis leave with them? VIII's another shipwreck story and I feel like it works perfectly as a stand alone story even if it took place after VII, but I guess it doesn't work if anybody traveled with Adol and Dogi afterward.

Now we just need that remake of Ys V and we'll be all set. I don't have a Vita so I never got to touch Celceta. Hope that comes to Steam eventually. I recently marathoned I, II, Oath in Felghana, Ark of Napishtim and Origin a month or two ago.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I think Geis went off on his own, but they appear to be setting him up for having an arc of his own eventually, so that's the only reason I could see them setting this before VI and he shows up.

Here's hoping they re-release Celceta so we can get all the Ys games in one easily available place. I just wish someone could give the TG16 version of IV an official re-release as I'm a big fan of those versions of the games. Just license a fan translation like they did for Oath for all I care. Just get it out there.

The way Falcom works is that with every new entry they remaster an old one. With VI we got III (and Origin). With VII we got IV. Now with VIII we should hopefully get V. After that the series should be finally caught up with every entry having an official Falcom-made version.

[Nel_Annette]

Wait, so would V be updated with VIII's graphics and engine? That'd be sexy as hell. 

[Spark Of Spirit]

It would!

In other news, I just played the Octopath Traveler demo. It was great! You can tell this is the team behind Bravely Default in that they are the best team currently at Square Enix. Like Radiant Historia, it feels like a long lost 16 and 32 bit RPG from their heyday. The combat system is simple yet can be complex, the music and art style are on point, and everything just clicks so well. And I only played one chapter of the eight characters. Who knows how much the full game contains.

I'm honestly surprised they did a demo, but I'm glad. This might be the first RPG I've purchased in a long time when it comes out.

[Nel_Annette]

Oh wait, is Geis in the game?

Oops, sorry, Spark, I completely missed this question. I'm fairly positive he's not in the game. The artbook in the special edition has every character in it, and he's not there. Apparently someone from the Celceta game was caught up in the shipwreck and washed up on the island too (I haven't gotten far enough in to find her), but since I never played that game she's a foreign face to me.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Hmm. I'm guessing that might be why they set it earlier. Geis doesn't show up until VI and he's been kind of a main character since. They probably wanted to save his story for the next game to not overdo him too early.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, I waited a bit to see people's opinions on it, but it looks like Sonic Mania is legitimately being viewed as a great platformer by fans of the genre, and not just Sonic fans. Easy allies gave it a 4.5/5, and being that this is the same team that comprised GT, who are decidedly not Sonic fans, that also helped a lot to convince me that this game wasn't just being over-hyped like Generations was (not that I dislike Generations, but it's an OK platformer that was made out to be a great one, IMO).

I had $30 sitting in my PSN account from a previous gift card, and I used $20 to buy Sonic Mania. I'll be trying it out pretty soon, but what also caught my eye was that both Metro 2033 and Last Light were both on sale for $7 a piece, being marked at 65% off. Unfortunately I only had about 10$ left, but I went ahead and bought Metro 2033 since I can't pass up a deal that good. If that deal is still good tomorrow, I may add $10 to my account and secure Last Light for later.

[Nel_Annette]

Okay, I passed chapter 3 of Ys VIII, and finally found a part of the main plot I didn't like: you're heading through the giant mountain, and then the game makes you backtrack to go to a different dungeon, followed by a mandatory suppression mission followed by an interception mission. Kind of killed the pacing a bit.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So, I did actually end up snagging Metro: Last Light for the same price as well. I'll be saving both of those games and the Resident Evil Origins Collection (which I've had sitting on my shelf since February) for October. Those are some perfect games for the Halloween season.