Whatcha been playing lately?

[Worm of Despite]

I bought an Xbox 360 today as well as Dead Rising. Mass Effect is being mailed by another game store.

Awesome. My Wii is keeping my satisfied: mostly Smash Bros Brawl, but I still need to beat Mario Galaxy. I think Galaxy is a little deeper and more well-done; definitely has the "magic" feel and is a new take on Mario, whereas Smash is an update on its predecessor. Lots of features and great music, albeit, but still Melee 1.5.

[CovenantJr]

Got my PSP yesterday...and immediately bricked it! It hadn't been switched on for nearly two years and the software was out of date so it wouldn't play my games.

I tried updating it through my wireless connection but it wouldn't do it (it said it was a router security issue but it wouldn't work on my neighbour's unsecured wireless either) so I downloaded the latest firmware manually. I followed the instructions and made sure the PSP was plugged in before starting the update as the site warned of dire consequences should the battery go flat partway through, only for the damn thing to crash during the install, thus invoking said dire consequences.

It's currently a very attractive and quite expensive paperweight and it'll cost me at least £25 to have it sent away to somebody to unbrick it, so my bargain PSP has become much less bargainy.

Pain. Oh, pain.

[Mysteweave]

I'm currently playing Star Ocean: 'Till the End of Time. It's the first Star Ocean I've played and I'm really enjoying it!

I've also just received Silent Hill Origins in the mail for the PS2. I WILL be playing that next!

[Cagliostro]

I'm currently playing Star Ocean: 'Till the End of Time. It's the first Star Ocean I've played and I'm really enjoying it!

I've also just received Silent Hill Origins in the mail for the PS2. I WILL be playing that next!

Dammit, I never finished Star Ocean, but I got to the second disk. That game is HUGE. I was really enjoying it, but I just put it aside for some reason and never picked up again (I think it was that FFXII came out, which I also have got near the end and never finished).

[Queeaqueg]

I'm currently playing Star Ocean: 'Till the End of Time. It's the first Star Ocean I've played and I'm really enjoying it!

Play Star Ocean 2: second Story(if you can find it anywhere). That was a really good game(up there if top RPGs I have played such as Final Fantasy, Suikoden and Shadow Hearts.

[Mysteweave]

^You've played Shadow Hearts?? In that case, you are awesome!

Is the second Star Ocean on PS2 or PS1? I know I could look it up, but I'm being lazy!

Dammit, I never finished Star Ocean, but I got to the second disk. That game is HUGE. I was really enjoying it, but I just put it aside for some reason and never picked up again (I think it was that FFXII came out, which I also have got near the end and never finished).

I've heard that the game gets very hard towards the end. Actually, I'm still on the first disk, and I can safely say that this is the hardest RPG I've ever played!

[Queeaqueg]

^You've played Shadow Hearts?? In that case, you are awesome!

Is the second Star Ocean on PS2 or PS1? I know I could look it up, but I'm being lazy!

I prefered the First Shadow Hearts to the second one, first was far more scary and dark. I never got round to play number 3, though.

Star Ocean 2 is on PS1, great game... the last boss battle is hardest last boss battle ever.

I am playing GT5: Prologue, just a small taster of whats to come. Visually the game looks awesome and even for a prologue there is sooo much to do. Can't wait for the real thing.

[CovenantJr]

My Wii is keeping my satisfied: mostly Smash Bros Brawl, but I still need to beat Mario Galaxy. I think Galaxy is a little deeper and more well-done; definitely has the "magic" feel and is a new take on Mario

I was playing a friend's copy of Mario Galaxy a few days ago, and it gave me a headache. It's really unusual and cleverly done, but all in all it got on my nerves a bit.

I prefered the First Shadow Hearts to the second one, first was far more scary and dark. I never got round to play number 3, though.

And I've only played the third, heh. It's good, but I hear the others are better.

[Worm of Despite]

My Wii is keeping my satisfied: mostly Smash Bros Brawl, but I still need to beat Mario Galaxy. I think Galaxy is a little deeper and more well-done; definitely has the "magic" feel and is a new take on Mario

I was playing a friend's copy of Mario Galaxy a few days ago, and it gave me a headache. It's really unusual and cleverly done, but all in all it got on my nerves a bit.

Really? I wonder what the Sonic games would do to you!

[Nav]

I thought the multiplayer aspect of Mario Galaxy was disappointing. "Oh great, I get to catch stars and shoot them."

I got my PSP back from the unbricker yesterday (I wonder if he has that job title on his passport?), so I've been playing a lot of Loco Roco and Mercury. Strangely, browsing the internet is actually more awkward on the PSP than on my phone, as it doesn't scale the page to the screen. I've also not figured out how to get video onto it yet.

[lucimay]

what have i been playing lately? pft. give ya 3 guesses and the first 2 don't count.

[CovenantJr]

I thought the multiplayer aspect of Mario Galaxy was disappointing. "Oh great, I get to catch stars and shoot them."

Agreed, although my friend had much fun prodding my Mario. The second player can catch stars, shoot them, and make Mario jump by prodding him - which is actually very annoying when player one is trying to do something.

[Nav]

WipEout Pure for the PSP. I still love WipEout, I don't seem to be able to download the extra content for some reason though.

[Nav]

This week I've been mostly playing Call of Duty 4 multiplayer and Oblivion. I'm up to level 25 on COD4 and the levels are getting quite big. I try and supplement my XP by doing the first challenge for every weapon and unlocking the red dot sight, but some of the weapons are horrible and the objective challenges are getting very hard so it's pretty much just grinding from here on in.

I jumped back into Oblivion when my internet was down last week and I'm enjoying it again. My khajit agent picked up some special sneaking boots and a camofluage ring so I can now do multiple surprise attacks with my bow. I also became a vampire so I have better night vision now (although khajit have that anyway), but sunlight burns me if I haven't fed recently. I actually got around to starting the storyline missions and now there's an urgency and direction to the game that I felt was lacking before. The daedra absorb a hell of a lot of arrows though!

[CovenantJr]

Started playing FFX-2, but got fed up of it. Not bad, but annoying in a niggly kind of way. I think it's the music and general presentation as much as anything, which sounds shallow, but it can make a difference.

Having decided to temporarily give up on FFX-2, I've gone back to the wannabe-GTA I started a couple of years ago: Mafia. It's more fun than I remember, probably because I've played (and hated) San Andreas in the interim. Very linear though, which is a shame.

[Cagliostro]

Gamestop was running a "buy two used games, get one free." I picked up Sly Cooper 2, Wild Arms 4 and Final Fantasy X-2. All for a little over $20.

Sly is a lot of fun. I loved the first game a lot, and am still surprised at myself for not picking up any of the sequels until now. This one takes a whole new approach which seems to be fun, but hunting those damn bottles is a tedious affair.

Wild Arms 4 I've not done a lot with, but is so far pretty standard PS2 RPG fare. I never finished WA3, but had a lot of fun with it, and really enjoyed the story line. The story line in this is just beginning, but seems compelling enough. I see some interesting things with the Hex system, but I need to get the hang of it first.

FFX-2 I have played through twice already before I had purchased this. Please note: I have never done this with a FF game before, and generally don't seem to finish them even once, so this was a big deal. I think for me this is the combat system that has worked the best and was most interesting to me. Or at least the levelling up aspect. I didn't mind the tedious levelling up like I usually do because it was so easy to set people so that they developed a new ability within a few combats. The storyline moved along, and I found it to be about as deep as other FF.
I bought this because I had previously borrowed a friend's copy for way too long, and he bought me a player's guide somewhere around the end of me finishing it up. I went through it again because I found the ending beautiful, and wanted to see what the rest of the ending was, so I worked to eventually get it to 100% completion. That was some work. I figure I might want to try it again one of these days.

[Worm of Despite]

FFX-2 I have played through twice already before I had purchased this. Please note: I have never done this with a FF game before, and generally don't seem to finish them even once, so this was a big deal. I think for me this is the combat system that has worked the best and was most interesting to me.

Only FF combat that didn't wear on me was VI, simply because the story/music/art kept me enthralled. Random encounters...meh. I like JRPGs like Chrono Trigger, where you fight on the map, without transition. Otherwise, I feel like the game is getting derailed every time there's an abrupt screen wipe.

I really wanted to play FFVIII, too, but it's notorious for encounters.

As for me, I'm still playing Smash Bros. Brawl, as well as a glowing dollop of Twilight Princess (I must beat every good Zelda game--good, mind you).

[CovenantJr]

Bleach: Blade of Fate, on DS
The Bard's Tale, on Xbox. I like the constant mockery of RPG conventions in this game.

(when being asked to rescue a princess):

Bard: "She's beautiful, you say?"
Man: "Yes, the fairest in all the land!"
Bard: "Prove it."

[Worm of Despite]

Beat Twilight Princess. Great ending, but like the entire game it was a bit too sprawling. I think Ocarina was much more cohesive--it had a perfect balance of size and old Zelda elements, whereas TP had no choice but to make its world large for the sake of large. I remember all the locations of Ocarina, but Twilight not so. Great games don't have to be huge (unless they're a tired formula, which one might argue Zelda is).

Honestly, it'll be hard to make another Ocarina, unless they discover a fourth dimension for games.

[CovenantJr]

Honestly, it'll be hard to make another Ocarina, unless they discover a fourth dimension for games.

*cough, cough* Majora's Mask

Which, by the way, I much preferred to Ocarina.