What are you playing?

[alienjesus]

I've just started up 2 new games this week: Jet Force Gemini and Luigi's Mansion 2: Dark Moon.

Jet Force Gemini has been pretty fun so far. The controls are a mess though. I don't mind them too much other than the way the camera locks in when you're in a battle, which throws me off much more than it helps unfortunately. The game is game J on my alphabet marathon, which means I plan to finish it. Unfortunately, that means the dreaded 'collect all the Tribals' which seems to be the thing most people hate about the game. I guess I can look forward to that.

In the (family friendly) spirit (heh, puns) of Halloween, I've also started up Luigi's Mansion 2. I was in love with the game from about....oh....20 second in? And all I'd seen at that point was cutscenes. The way Luigi animates is marvelous, and it gives him so much more character than you normally see in a Mario game. The game is quick paced and fun too, although howlongtobeat says it's 14 hours and I don't know if it can keep me interested quite that long. I guess we'll see.

I really need to get back to Stranded Kids and Mario Golf too...

[dust_hound]

Right now i'm totally hooked on Shin Megami Tensei IV on 3DS. The JRPG gameplay feels very streamlined - grinding can be very much minimised by having a good configuration of you and your party's skills, and things like going to the tavern to collect quests adds a nice old-school feeling. Battles move really quickly, and during the normal location exploration, you can either go with the regular third-person, or set the view to an over-the-shoulder POV, giving it a really cool and claustrophobic vibe which i really like. Fusing demons and passing on skills is as addictive as ever, and the overall vibe is pretty dark and end-of-the-world-y. Graphics are really nice, and the 3D looks very cool.

The style is this unusual (not bad, though), but consistent, mish-mash of 2D character art, lightly-animated 2D sprites in regular battles, with non-animated larger art for bosses (these have special effects overlaid on top of them so that they don't look totally static), a 2D world map with menu navigation, and fully 3D exploration...

and later on, a 3D world map with 3D exploration of much bigger locations than before.

I've done about 10 hours so far, and might start to slow down over the coming weeks, but fully intend to finish this one, hopefully before Christmas.

One part i thought was really cool was that you start off in a European medieval-style world, but with added 'Samurai' and OOPARTS, and an obviously-corrupt religion overseeing the population, keeping rich and poor separate through dogma and force, and start exploring this creepy dungeon which you're mandated not to go too deeply into. Circumstances then dictate that you break from tradition, in order to pursue an ambiguous antagonist further down into the dungeon... which actually turns out to be a tower in the sky of near-future Tokyo, which has been overrun by demons and humans out to exploit the situation for their own gain. On paper, it sounds like a cliched plot, but watching it unfold as you play is great.

[Exhuminator]

Right now i'm totally hooked on Shin Megami Tensei IV on 3DS.

Did you play Nocturne or Strange Journey before this?

[Stark]

Speaking of SMT, I've been playing Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker. Been playing about 2 hours and I think I've had 1 encounter, sounds about right.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Anyone play the first MegaTen game on Famicom? I hope to import that one soon. Been really into 8-bit RPGs lately, especially since picking up a Twin Fami.

[dust_hound]

@Exhuminator:
Actually, this is my first mainline series game - i recently (well, this year anyway) played through to the end of Persona 1, enjoying it a lot, and i had also been playing Persona 3, but lapsed about halfway through as the PSP version felt a bit limited for me due to the solely menu-based town exploration.

Would you guys say that Nocturne and Strange Journey are worth playing?

@Stark:
I had Devil Survivor 2 on DS, and enjoyed what i played of it, but ended up passing it on to a friend prematurely. I really enjoyed the ways that your interactions could determine if you would be able to save certain characters from dying.

@BoneSnapDeez
I don't have the means to play the original MegaTen, but would be interested to read a review if you were to write one!

[Exhuminator]

Would you guys say that Nocturne and Strange Journey are worth playing?

I haven't played Strange Journey yet, but I beat Nocturne a few years ago. In my opinion, Nocturne is the best JRPG available for PS2. The game is phenomenal. Feel the dark love: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m2lI-8dj0o

@BoneSnapDeez
I don't have the means to play the original MegaTen

Sure you do:

http://www.romhacking.net/translations/2263/

http://www.snes9x.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Buffalo-Classic-U ... controller

[dust_hound]

Well, yeah, i mean i do, but i don't have original hardware and a cartridge was what i should have said, heh!

Hmm, maybe will look it up some time! (After i beat SMTIV...)

[TSTR]

PUSHMO

is liek teh crack

[Lazer]

Red Faction - PS2

Hopefully posting soon in "Games beaten 2015"