RPG Progress Report

[MrNash]

A word of caution: there are some forced choices near the lock-in point that will kick you out of neutral, so if you want to get the neutral ending you most likely will need to be slightly law/chaotic and then make the opposite choice at the lock-in point.

Thanks for the advice. =) I wound up doing this, nudging Flynn's alignment slightly toward Order before heading to Camp Ichigaya, then nudging things back toward chaos after and it paid off. Just got the "With Complete Understanding" quest, so it looks like I managed to get on the neutral path. Quite happy about that. =D

[Retrogamer0001]

Finished Final Fantasy 8 today and the game still holds up remarkably well and remains one of my all-time favorites in the series. I'll be starting Legend of Legaia after I'm finished with Dark Souls II, and then probably playing Final Fantasy 7 during this year's Summer Game Challenge. Fun times ahead!

[kidfresh]

Starting another playthrough of Phantasy Star II on the Genesis! I really must mention - I'm a liner notes/bonus goodies kind of guy, and any game that has a big, thick fucking hint book with maps and enemy names and cheesy "You Can Do It's!" is a worthy CIB purchase to me. Sadly, Atlus seems to be the only company who still does anything like this.

[CavZee]

Making good progress in Shin Megami Tensei IV. Just got under Roppongi and wow. The story in this game is great. I'm just worried I may not be able to get the neutral ending. So far my character is leaning that way, but it's still up in the air if I can maintain that through to the home stretch. >_<

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it too much and just enjoy where you end up. Though what Mr. PoPo says is correct. I was leaning Chaos most of the way but some of my later choices must have backtracked me into Neutral territory so that's where I ended up.

Glad you like it. It's one of my absolute favorite games in recent memory and makes me really want to dive deeper into the SMT franchise.

EDIT: seems you already got it taken care of. ;D

[alienjesus]

Loaded up an older save and got 5 more endings on Atelier Totori Plus. That puts me at 6/11. There are 2 more relatively easily obtainable ones, so I'll probably get those sometime soon too, and then save the tougher endings for other runs through the game. Definitely enjoyed this game a lot though.

[Ack]

I've continued on in Breath of Fire 2 and am now trying to catch an Uparupa or some such thing so I can get the Grass Man. I just killed some weird floating head/singing lady thing in what must have been the most challenging fight I've fought yet...which is to say, it really wasn't that hard. I would say that Blue had something to do with it, but she really didn't, as all she did in the fight was boost everyone's defense. while Ryu did all of the heavy lifting.

Right now my party consists of Ryu, Katt, Rand, and Bleu, and they range in levels from 20-35. And unless there is a pressing reason to switch them out, I don't see much use in ever changing this party. My town now has six houses in it, three of which I've filled.

[pierrot]

I've continued on in Breath of Fire 2 and am now trying to catch an Uparupa

Right now my party consists of Ryu, Katt, Rand, and Bleu, and they range in levels from 20-35. And unless there is a pressing reason to switch them out, I don't see much use in ever changing this party.

I used to use Nina instead of Rand sometimes. Otherwise, you're good. Note that Bleu (Deis) doesn't have any other shaman forms.

[MrPopo]

Right now my party consists of Ryu, Katt, Rand, and Bleu, and they range in levels from 20-35. And unless there is a pressing reason to switch them out, I don't see much use in ever changing this party.

I used to use Nina instead of Rand sometimes. Otherwise, you're good. Note that Bleu (Deis) doesn't have any other shaman forms.

I use Nina instead of Rand myself, but yeah, Katt pumps out tons of damage and Bleu is ridiculous, especially when you first get her.

[Sload Soap]

I played a lot of FFXII over the weekend. I took on AJ's advice and have now started equipping particular weapons to the characters whose stats best suit them. I also took a sneaky peak at a completed License board to see where I should be putting my points.

I'm loving Ivalice. It's an obvious mash up of Star Wars and high fantasy, but it is seems richer and full of life than a lot of jRPGs. Perhaps this is owing to it being the setting for other games?

I can't quite get a full grip on the plot, or more precisely it's various components. There are a lot of names and places being thrown at me and it's quite dense what with all the Judge's, mystical ancient kingdoms and warring empires. However, the baddies seem more fleshed out than a usual FF. I don't think Gabranth is truly evil and I'm not sure Vayn is either so that's good.

I'm still having a problem with gambits though. I feel that the system was obviously intended to make combat automatic and therefore less of a chore, but I find that I still spend a decent amount of time in menus messing about changing variables. Crucially it is perhaps more time than I would spend just selecting my moves in a traditional turn based battle format.

What annoys me most though, and this is something I've found a lot of modern RPGs do, is that normal attacks will suffice until you get to a boss, and then the boss is both a damage sponge and introduces an attack or debuff you haven't encountered before. So, for example, I just defeated Mateus who is an ice elemental. An ice elemental who isn't weak to fire or thunder and lives in a dungeon of mostly stone based enemies. It's incongruous to the setting and makes it feel like the developers are pawning off an esper battle as a dungeon boss.This game seems to throw bosses in clumps as well. Before Mateus there was a sub-boss and immediately after leaving the dungeon I had to fight a Judge, but previous to them there hadn't been a boss for hours and hours. I dunno, it just seems a bit off.

/Sorry for the long post, it's just I had a lot of gameplay to process.

[pierrot]

I can't quite get a full grip on the plot, or more precisely it's various components. There are a lot of names and places being thrown at me and it's quite dense what with all the Judge's, mystical ancient kingdoms and warring empires. However, the baddies seem more fleshed out than a usual FF. I don't think Gabranth is truly evil and I'm not sure Vayn is either so that's good.

The story does almost require note taking, but I liked it for the most part. Don't necessarily want to spoil anything, so:

I don't remember what the reason actually was—possibly just running up against the budget—but the end of the game goes all crazy pants with the story. Once on the final airship, just put your brain into auto-pilot, because none of the exposition matters at that point. It's really unfortunate that the ending was so sloppily done. Otherwise I really liked the game.