Snickerd00dle's Summer Challenge 2012 - how is it going?

[o.pwuaioc]

damn you guys make me want to pull out my copy of FFIV and rock through it again
its awesome to see you guys having such a good time with it

Your avatar made me realize that I've been meaning to put in FFV, so I played 20 minutes (not counting the giant intro scene) today.

[noiseredux]

EDIT: Yes, X-Men arcade... either XBLA or PSN.

Cool. So do you intend to limit your credit use or anything? I'm just curious, because its easy to special attack your way through the game in about 20 minutes.

By the way, if you happen to get it on xbla, I'm available for some sentinel smashing.

yeah I hadn't really decided on a credit-limit or anything yet. Truthfully, I enjoy beat-em-ups a lot but I'm not exactly good at them. I've always been a quarter feeder where the genre is concerned.

Usually beat-em-ups are played co-op with my wife and a bunch of beer. So credit-feeding is a given and it's more about just having mindless fun.

Question about the XBLA port -- can you play local & online co-op at the same time? Meaning, if we wanted to could me and my wife be sitting here and both of us play co-op with you online so that all three of us were playing together?

[dsheinem]

Hard to say with this game. The last level you just finished should not have been a walk in the park with those levels. This part also ramps up difficulty a bit, so yeah, if I were you, I'd grind a bit. Unfortunately, you just left one of the best grinding spots in the game.

Which two summons did you get?

It wasn't a walk in the park, and so I decided to grind a bit by getting

Bahumut.

Turns out that wasn't enough: I got quickly killed a few levels deep into the dungeon behind the

crystals in the moon palace.

Any suggestions for the best place to grind quickly/easily at this point in the game? Is grinding sufficient, or do I need to try and grab all the specialized weapons/spells/etc. in order to have a chance at the end?

[o.pwuaioc]

Any suggestions for the best place to grind quickly/easily at this point in the game? Is grinding sufficient, or do I need to try and grab all the specialized weapons/spells/etc. in order to have a chance at the end?

You don't need the weapons. They're nice, but unnecessary. Grinding should be sufficient, especially since the higher levels mean more MP for

Rydia (I almost forgot to put her name in spoiler tags!). Also, did you not do the Land of Summoned Monsters sidequest? It's pretty important. Bahamut is definitely your best summon, but there's another important summon in the Land of Summoned Monsters

Secret sidequest (so don't click if you want to figure this one out on your own):

There's something else lurking in the castle of Baron. Talk to the guards who are spooked over something in the basement. Warning: you cannot get this summon until after you get the Asura summon from the Land of Summoned Monsters sidequest.

As for the best place to grind some more, maybe

the Sylph cave if you are not able to last long on the moon. Wait, have you even gone into this cave yet? If not, I do recommend it.

[dsheinem]

Rydia (I almost forgot to put her name in spoiler tags!). Also, did you not do the Land of Summoned Monsters sidequest? It's pretty important. Bahamut is definitely your best summon, but there's another important summon in the Land of Summoned Monsters

Secret sidequest (so don't click if you want to figure this one out on your own):

There's something else lurking in the castle of Baron. Talk to the guards who are spooked over something in the basement. Warning: you cannot get this summon until after you get the Asura summon from the Land of Summoned Monsters sidequest.

As for the best place to grind some more, maybe

the Sylph cave if you are not able to last long on the moon. Wait, have you even gone into this cave yet? If not, I do recommend it.

I didn't do Baron or Sylph, but I guess I may as well if you think the level raising potential of them is worth it. I did do the Cave of the SM. Right now I am just fighting battles in the moon caves/moon surface.

I really hate this about some RPGs: I played through the standard story and several sidequests, did everything at a relatively even pace, didn't run from many fights, etc. - yet still am expected to do a lot of leveling before the end boss. It's like they ran out of story, so they make you suffer for it.

[noiseredux]

progress report I posted on GBPL blog:

I've played about a half-hour of Sonic Adventure. It seems good, though not as good as the bit of SA2 I've played. It definitely looks great. My biggest complaint is figuring out where I'm supposed to go next. I feel like I spend about five minutes playing a level, then I spent fifteen walking around aimlessly looking for the next level. So we'll see. I've beaten the first Eggman battle in the Ruins, and I found some new sneakers.

Played about fifteen minutes of Jet Set Radio Future. Another great looking game. I basically just did the little tutorial, but I'm not actually sure how to start the game. I feel stuck in the little intro hub. If I try to leave and go to another area, it just sends me back to the hub. I should read the manual though.

Spent about a half hour on Ninja Gaiden Black. Mind = blown, graphically. It doesn't even look last gen to me. The controls feel so smooth as well. The problem was after a half hour I hit a game over, and lost my progress. I'm guessing you can only save at certain points? Again... I should read the manual.

Indigo Prophecy I started with before Symphony of the Night, and am on the third scene I believe. Though I have an odd problem... my PS2 is run through a ViewSonic NextVision N6 to convert the composite signal to VGA. Most games look just fine this way, but Indigo Prophecy seems overly dark. Like so dark that I'm having trouble seeing items or areas of rooms. I tried messing with brightness settings on the monitor to no avail. I'm contemplating just switching to the Xbox version since my 360 is run through HDMI.

And finally Grand Theft Auto: Vice City... I think this will be the main game I focus on from my list right now. I've put in an hour or so and am starting to really enjoy it.

[o.pwuaioc]

For those playing/have played before, any suggestions on jobs/abilities for FFV?

I've played about a half-hour of Sonic Adventure. It seems good, though not as good as the bit of SA2 I've played. It definitely looks great. My biggest complaint is figuring out where I'm supposed to go next. I feel like I spend about five minutes playing a level, then I spent fifteen walking around aimlessly looking for the next level. So we'll see. I've beaten the first Eggman battle in the Ruins, and I found some new sneakers.

I stopped just one level ahead of you. It's...just not catching hold of me for some reason. It is pretty, I do like that, but it feels...not Sonic. From what I understand, it doesn't get much better. :/

And finally Grand Theft Auto: Vice City... I think this will be the main game I focus on from my list right now. I've put in an hour or so and am starting to really enjoy it.

You should rewatch Scarface before you play. It really makes the game more enjoyable

[sabrage]

The save points look like big dragon statues and are rather hard to miss, plus they heal you (or is that only in NG2?) The great thing about NGB is that you can breeze through the game once you know what you're doing. At least half of the length is going to come from those first few (dozen) deaths.

[noiseredux]

I stopped just one level ahead of you. It's...just not catching hold of me for some reason. It is pretty, I do like that, but it feels...not Sonic. From what I understand, it doesn't get much better. :/

I had played the demo of SA2 and absolutely loved it, so I wanted to give SA a go first. Ever since Sonic Generations I've had this weird desire to force myself to play through the 3D Sonics. I guess I want to see how bad they are on my own -- or find out if there was inklings of the good that would come later within them. I don't hate SA by any means. Just wish it was a lot more linear.

You should rewatch Scarface before you play. It really makes the game more enjoyable

Ok, ready for flames... I've never even watched Scarface.

The save points look like big dragon statues and are rather hard to miss, plus they heal you (or is that only in NG2?) The great thing about NGB is that you can breeze through the game once you know what you're doing. At least half of the length is going to come from those first few (dozen) deaths.

crap there's save points in the game? I just figured you could only save between missions or something.

[dsheinem]

I've never even watched Scarface.

oh ffs