What are you playing?

[noiseredux]

On that note: favorite non-mainline FF games?

I always loved Tactics, as well as Tactics Advanced. I only played a bit of A2, though.

Final Fantasy Adventure - though not technically a FF game - is awesome. Love that one to pieces.

Likewise, the FF Legends games - especially III - were great.

I had fun with Crystal Chronices. Not sure how'd I'd feel about it today. I do want to check out more of the CC series though.

Type-0 was a total mess of a game that I strangely found myself utterly enjoying and kind of hating at the same time. I'd still recommend it. Kind of.

Also, XIII-2 was great. I think it'd be more fondly remembered if it didn't have "XIII" in the title.

[pierrot]

Leynos 2 is pretty darn hard. There are lots of different weapon options, but for certain levels you do have to make sure you have at least a few key items selected in order to survive. I got my ass repeatedly handed to me until I did some reading on-line to determine better strategy.

Part of my issue might have been that I didn't figure out that the armor types could actually be adjusted along the independent axis of those defense-type charts until Mission 5, I think. I thought those charts were just sort of superfluous information, at first. I guess if I really think about it, Mission 2 is the one that gave me the most trouble (because it's stupid). I don't think it's possible to fail Mission 3, and Mission 4 is also dumb, but once I figured out that I didn't need to actually stay with the convoy, and could just speed out in front of it to intercept the enemies, I was able to clear it without issue. I think I might have even finished Mission 5 on my first go at it, which is good, because it's a horrendously long stage. Aside from almost making the boss of Mission 5 into a normal enemy in Mission 6, I wouldn't really have a huge problem with that stage, either, if it weren't for that one goddamned attack that the boss of the stage has.

Also, while the field of view adjusting based on the range of the weapon being used is kind of a neat visual effect, it is possibly the worst thing about the game, from a gameplay perspective. For a lot of the weapons I would regularly use, the enemies can just zoom all around outside of my range of sight, and just bog down the pace of the game tremendously. It's especially frustrating, again, with the boss of Mission 6, because he's almost constantly off the screen, and can also fire that instant death shot at me from there. It's not a fun game for me. I haven't played the first Leynos, or Valkens yet, but I'm inclined to believe that the people left behind at Masaya had no idea what to do with these games once the people who formed Omiya Soft had left the company.

On that note: favorite non-mainline FF games?

Crystal Chronicles on the Gamecube is the best Final Fantasy game there is. Also, Adventure is pretty sweet.

[Markies]

I do like FF4 and in a way, I think its the perfect 'starter' Final Fantasy game.

However, the party makeup of Cecil and his magic users got a little old after a while. In the middle part of it, the party was just Cecil carrying these little mages around. I just wished and prayed for Kain to come back as he actually wore heavy armor.

That is probably my only minor complaint in the game.

[noiseredux]

I'm about 20 hours into FF4 now. And have now seen (spoilers) Yang and Cid sacrifice themselves. There's a lot of that in this game. It's interesting that the party changes so much so constantly. Although, it sucks when you lose some good gear with no notice.

[Nintendork666]

Chocobo's Dungeon 2 is the MVP of the entire FF franchise

[prfsnl_gmr]

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy is a pretty boss rhythm game...I recommend it to any fans of the older entries in the series.

[Sload Soap]

I second Theatrhythm, preferring Curtain Call for the added content, and add Dissidia NT which is a surprisingly good arena fighter stuff full of FF fanservice. It's also nice how you can create a team of classic FF characters to wail on dopes like Lightning, Snow and Tidus. Satisfying.

[BogusMeatFactory]

Started playing this new third person action rpg called Outward. It has had a lot of word of mouth and rightfully so. It is a hardcore survival fantasy rpg that emphasizes planning, strategy and picking your battles wisely. This game is HARD. A lot of people compare it to dark souls and I strongly disagree. The only commonality the game has with dark souls is that it is difficult.

The game starts you off as a member of this tribal community. You were on a seafaring expedition that crashed ashore and killed a lot of people. When you return home, you owe a blood debt to those grieving and have 5 days to pay 150 silver or forfeit your house as payment and then plops you into the world.

You are not a heroic person, in reality you are an average citizen with no real combat skills. You learn new skills by paying for training. There is no xp. Instead, all forms of progression are training and loot based. Players have to craft food and drink and alchemical potions to buff your stats and your health and stamina regeneration, which all happens gradually.

The real hook is the games focus on immersion. Players must eat and drink regularly, dress appropriately to the environment and treat wounds efficiently to avoid infection and disease. Going out into. The cold nights in the rain will get your character sick and cause issues as you play. Carrying a backpack offers you more inventory slots, but makes combat difficult as you can't dodge or maneuver as fast so you need to set your backpack down before engaging in combat. These little touches help engage you and make you think ahead before rushing in to slash away.

Another great hook is how the game handles defeat. Depending on what knocks you out determines a series of events that follow. Get killed by a hyena and you may wake up in their cave before they eat you and you must try and escape. You may also be found by a hunter who saves you and drops you off into town. Bandits knock you out? Expect enslavement that you must try to escape. There are a ton of events that can really change up the experience and is a ton of fun.

You also only have a single save and the game autosaves at every decision you make. You can not save scum. Decide to drink sea water and get sick and dehydrated? You are stuck with that decision. This makes the story play out naturally and feel like the decision you make are weighted and worthwhile.

As for the magic system... Well... It's complicated. You don't know magic and in order to learn it you must attune yourself to ley lines in the world, sacrificing stamina and health to generate a mana pool in an arcane ritual. The spells you do learn don't do much and require you to set up magical circles in the he environment to stand in to augment your spells. This requires a lot of footwork to avoid enemies and draw them away from the circle so you can safely enter it and cast spells. The first leyline you can access? Inside a giant mountain dungeon.

The game also supports split screen local co-op and online co-op which is crazy!

I have only put in about 2 and a half hours into the game and I have barely scratched the surface. There is a lot to talk about and a huge world to explore that there is so much. Crafting, hunting/gathering, the factions in the game all are things I've barely touched as I had to make a mad dash to sell all my possessions to pay off my blood debt on the eve of the final day. I struggled HARD and probably sold some stuff I will regret, but your home has a lot of amenities you just don't have access to without it... Most importantly a safe place to sleep free of charge.

Know when I said the game is compared to dark souls? I feel that is inaccurate. Instead I would say the game has more on common with everquest. The world is brutally realistic, with night being pitch black. Maintaining food and drink to stay alive and having a world filled with varied danger that knows no level further accentuates your need for discretion and planning. Travel is long and arduous and death can come at a moments notice. It really is something special

I will tell a tale of my first adventure later.. This was a wall of text to begin with... But yeah, Outward is good. Very very good.

[ElkinFencer10]

Finished Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade! Review incoming Monday. Now I can focus on Yoshi's Crafted World and my dive back into Fire Emblem Warriors. I'm also gonna pick Starcraft back up, I think; I got about 2/3 of the way through the original game, but I want to finish that, play through Brood War with the remastered visuals, and go through Starcraft 2 since I own all four campaigns but have only played Wings of Liberty.

[Nintendork666]

Just randomly sunk like 10 hours into Skyrim.

Whoops.