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

[Nel_Annette]

I maxed out character levels on my second Tales Of Xillia playthrough, beat the only bonus boss I haven't fought yet, saw a few subquests I didn't know existed, maxed out some of my shop levels, and got a crap ton of trophies. There are more things I could do for trophies, but I'm putting the game away now. Overall I like the game, but I feel like it has the weakest cast of all the Tales games I've played. Looking forward to Xillia 2 though.

Next for my PS3: Batman: Arkham Asylum.

I think I'll add more to the collection with my next paycheck. I found a ton of games on Amazon for under $15, and I can easily get the free shipping. Goning to build this PS3 library up strong. 

[King Hippo]

Just got Tales of Symphonia Chronicles.

The game is worth playing again for the soundtrack alone.

[No-Personality]

Shadowgate. On NES.

I got all the way to the Death figure on the raft, jumped into the water just for a "fun" death bit, then instead of clicking Restore on my emulator... I pressed Save. So, now I have to start all over again.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I played through a bit more of MGRR on Revengeance difficulty. I have to admit that I probably died a lot more times than I needed to since I was so hell-bent on trying to perfect-parry enemies rather than trying to fight them normally. This mode really gives you tons of incentive to play that way, though. I'm currently half-way through File R-02, and I'm probably going to be playing this game in shorter bursts due to my current work-load.

As for Banjo-Kazooie, I managed to get to the desert level (I can't recall the name of it, ATM), and so far this is probably my least favorite. It's not bad or anything. The actual mini-games and other tasks to collect Jiggies are quite fun. My problem has to do with navigating the level itself. It just feels like a chore, what with more than half of it being those hills that you can only scale with Kazooie, and about a third being those annoying quick-sand areas, with very little sold ground left to go on. Even Clanker's Cavern wasn't this annoying just to get through, IMO. That said, as I just mentioned, actually retrieving the Jiggies and most of the other collectibles is still as fun as ever.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I got half-way through File R-03 on Revengeance difficulty. This game can be pretty unpredictable since either everything can go your way or everything can work against you. So far, most of this level has been going my way, minus a few BS deaths, so I've been kicking tons of enemy ass relatively quickly.

[Daxdiv]

Been going back to Earthbound recently. Currently in Winters playing as Jeff, and I do kind of like how Jeff gets to level up at his own pace compared to how when I got Paula, it felt like I had to babysit her to be useful until she got a wide array of PSI powers.

[Grave]

Borderlands 2
Played a longer session with my brother-in-law and my sister today. I'm beginning to understand the game a little more, but it's definitely not a game I'd play by myself. Also regretting not picking Zero either. Axton just comes off as boring. FPS feel very awkward on the PS3.

SSF4:AE2012
Still going through a heavy character crisis. Decided to hit up training mode as Yang for a little bit. His combos are a lot easier than I expected, but at the same time I'm actually FADCing more consistently as well. Still, FADCing from a quarter-circle forward/backward motion feels more awkward than from a shoryuken motion (Z). But man, Yang, doing some of his punish combos, the damage really sucks. I understand that he's not a hard-hitting character to begin with, but my goodness it's kinda hard to believe a Heavy Punch into his HP Mantis Slashes seems like it should do more damage. Anyway, he's still fun, and got me thinking about making him my main as well.

3rd Strike
Originally I was gonna make Dudley my main, but I'm thinking about making him my secondary while I main Yang here as well. Granted I should probably use Ken to teach me the basics, but Yang is also a basic character, but trickier, and I just like to hit buttons.

[Foggle]

Beat all stages in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. What a marvelous game! Perhaps the best 2D platformer I have played, with some of the greatest music, most lovable graphics, and coolest set pieces ever.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Beat all stages in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. What a marvelous game! Perhaps the best 2D platformer I have played, with some of the greatest music, most lovable graphics, and coolest set pieces ever.

I still have to get everything in world 6, but otherwise I agree. Fantastic game. It's gonna take a lot for a game to top it this year.

[gunswordfist]

I played Strider demo on April Fool's Day. They have Strider's movement down perfectly.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I beat File R-03 on Revengeance difficulty. This difficulty can definitely be infuriating at times, and some deaths are downright cheap since enemies can one-shot you from off-screen, but as fa as hardest difficulties go, it's not so bad. It's at least nowhere close to as hard as NG's Master Ninja mode or DMC's a DMD mode, so I should probably make it through the rest of the game in one piece.

[Grave]

SSF4:AE2012
Same tired story, but this time I've been using the twins (Yang and Yun). I'm leaning towards making one the main and the other the secondary. How long that'll last, I'm hoping for quite some time, especially since I plan to get Ultra SF4.

GGXXAC+R
Tried out Order Sol. Very high probability of him being my main. Gonna try out Slayer next.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I got up to File R-07 of MGRR on Revengeance difficulty. Once I finish this playthrough I'll probably be done with the game, as I don't intend to go through the frustration of trying to S-rank every single fight in the game just for the sake of an achievement, and I don't really dig the VR missions. Overall, though, it's been a pretty solid game. I've clocked in nearly 35 hours with it over the course of (soon to be) 6 complete playthroughs (as well as one playthrough of the Jetstream Sam DLC).

I'd tackle the Blade Wolf DLC as well, but as I've stated previously, my XBOX360 just flat out refuses to run it, so there goes that.

As for Banjo Kazooie, I got past Mad Monster Mansion and found all of the collectibles there. I played a bit of Rusty Bucket Bay, and died immediately in the engine room because I didn't even know that the platforms could rotate like that (thanks for not actually putting in a little cutscene or something to give me fair warning, Rare). So, yeah, this one's going to be a bit harder tahn the others.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I just beat Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance on Revengeance difficulty. It's a pretty great, if somewhat unbalanced game, though I think I'm pretty much done with it for now. I may go back to collect that last data storage unit just for the hell of it, but overall I've accomplished what I wanted to with this game. I personally don't feel like going for an S-Rank run on Revengeance difficulty because of how frustratingly unbalanced the game can be (and how strict those ranks are), but I'm content with just making it through the game on its hardest available difficulty setting.

Now to get back to DMC3 and complete it on DMD mode.

[Nel_Annette]

Had a great moment in Xenoblade where I was fighting an enemy I clearly was not leveled enough for, and was fighting it on a bridge over a river of liquid death. Right before I was about to die, I managed to use the Monado's buster attack to finally knock it off the bridge, and watched with glee as the river dragged it away, it's hit points rapidly chipping off. Suddenly I get a bunch of experience. Now that's an exciting moment in a video game, none of that scripted shit.