Palabragris
The Golden Dragon
- AKA
- Mistwalker; GoldenDragon
Assassin's Creed: Syndicate.
Good game, but the franchise needs a rest. Now.
Good game, but the franchise needs a rest. Now.
What was the last game you finished?
- Thread starter Ami
- Start date
Ami
Playing All The Stuff!
- AKA
- Amizon, Commander Shepard, Ellie, Rinoa Heartilly, Xena, Clara Oswald, Gamora, Lana Kane, Tifa Lockhart, Jodie Holmes, Chloe Price.
I've heard the next game, which is set in Egypt, isn't coming out until 2017. I kind of agree that it needs a rest and I wouldn't mind a year off.
Just finished the PS4 port of FFVII a few days ago. It's been quite some years since I last finished the game, so emtoions were had.
Joe
I KEEP MY IDEALS
- AKA
- Joe, Arcana
Easily my highlight of the series alongside AC2. Phenomenal game with some really fun gameplay mechanics. I'm still hoping they make a new ip using the ship mechanic.
OT: Idk if one can really 'finish' Diablo 3 now but I finished all objectives for the season journey this season and geared fully for a particular build. Can solo some beastly greater rifts.
Russell
.. ? ..
- AKA
- King of the Potato People
Finally finished Dragon Age Inquistion (3rd time) but with all the DLC.
I started a new game after watching Ami's channel on youtube.
You took 60+ hours of my life awayBitch Ami.
I enjoyed it! Played as a Female Qunari Rogue, romanced Sera.
Seen all the female romances now. If I play again I'll have to go gay for Dorian.
I mean, erm, something a straight person would say.
I started a new game after watching Ami's channel on youtube.
You took 60+ hours of my life away
I enjoyed it! Played as a Female Qunari Rogue, romanced Sera.
Seen all the female romances now. If I play again I'll have to go gay for Dorian.
I mean, erm, something a straight person would say.
Joe
I KEEP MY IDEALS
- AKA
- Joe, Arcana
GR62 was my highest solo. GR67or68 with the group I was usually playing with. I have 68 a try solo, failed, and that's where I threw in the towel 
Still it's the best I've done. It's the most patient I've been with the game since seasons were introduced, mostly because my class (Crusader) has been quite boring in previous patches. A lot of fun this time.
Still it's the best I've done. It's the most patient I've been with the game since seasons were introduced, mostly because my class (Crusader) has been quite boring in previous patches. A lot of fun this time.
DynamixDJ
DynaGamer
- AKA
- Josh
I actually really miss playing games - the next game I want to play is Fallout 4, but unfortunately I can't see that happening for another ..... 4-6 months? I started writing a walkthrough for FFvii last march, and had I known it was going to take so long, I don't think I would have started it..... I don't regret it though, it's going to be epic once it's done, but I can't wait to get back into the world of recreational gaming once again.
I did take a 6 week break to play Zombies on BO3. Weren't too impressed (given how absolutely amazing Origins was). I think I'm going to be looking forward to new Extinction more so than Zombies now...
I did take a 6 week break to play Zombies on BO3. Weren't too impressed (given how absolutely amazing Origins was). I think I'm going to be looking forward to new Extinction more so than Zombies now...
Flintlock
Pro Adventurer
Final Fantasy IV.
Thoughts:
The Complete Edition version is better than the DS version but it still has its own flaws and idiosyncrasies. As with most pre-VII Final Fantasies, I found the encounter rate to be absurdly high. Sometimes I would take two steps and get two battles. I guess it's because there's a random chance of getting a battle on each tile, rather than a step counter. I also got an insane number of back attacks - at one point in the Lunar Subterrane, I counted seven in a row. That was particularly frustrating since almost every enemy attack was a one-hit KO on my weaker party members, who ended up in the front row. I know people say the 2D versions of IV are quite easy, but that's not the case when you're severely underlevelled.
Actually, I thought it was a good, fair challenge for the most part - except for one boss, which I'll come to in a moment. I got a few game overs, but I always felt like I could come up with a better strategy and try again without needing to grind. I levelled up a bit before fighting the Archfiends inside the Giant but not excessively. It felt pretty satisfying to scrape through some of the tougher fights.
The fight which completely changed the game was, as you might have guessed, Zeromus. My character levels were in the high 30s when I got to him and they stood no chance - not a single one of them survived the first Big Bang, which seems to ignore protect, shell, defend and even Brace (I brought Yang with me since Rydia's HP was so pathetic). I levelled them up to about 45 - which unlocks Curaja - and tried again. Still no use: even though Yang, Cecil and Kain started to survive the opening Big Bang, at least occasionally, Edge and Rosa couldn't and I needed Rosa to cast Curaja because in this version of the game, Zeromus opens with two Big Bangs.
I had to level Rosa up to 50 before she started consistently surviving the attack. Edge still snuffed it most of the time but at least I could use Cecil to throw a Phoenix Down and follow it up with Curaja. Even then, I had to try the battle a few times because of bad damage ranges. Since the nearest save point is some distance away and there's an extremely long cut-scene before the fight starts, that got very boring very quickly, and I resorted to using the emulator's speed-up function to skip the cut-scene. In the end, it took me three and a half hours of in-game time to level up sufficiently.
I don't mind that Zeromus is difficult - most players will do sidequests, levelling up while getting Bahamut, Excalibur and so on, before fighting him - but he's a bit of a speed run destroyer in this version of the game. Even this video which claims to be a world record (I don't doubt that it was, I just don't know if it's been beaten since) levels everyone except Cecil into the high 50s. The main difference is that the player in the video has a much better grinding strategy than mine, which was "play the game until it gets too hard and then fight things near a save point".
Still, now I can say I've completed Final Fantasy IV in a day.
My in-game time was 11:38 (at the post-credits save, I think most speed runners stop the clock when Zeromus is defeated) and it probably took me about 13 hours of real time, or 14 including breaks. I'm pretty sure I could knock a couple of hours off those figures if I played it again right now, and probably another couple if I actually did some research and made a proper plan. Not that I'm going to, though. Retrospective podcast spoilers: I still don't love the game. 
Thoughts:
The Complete Edition version is better than the DS version but it still has its own flaws and idiosyncrasies. As with most pre-VII Final Fantasies, I found the encounter rate to be absurdly high. Sometimes I would take two steps and get two battles. I guess it's because there's a random chance of getting a battle on each tile, rather than a step counter. I also got an insane number of back attacks - at one point in the Lunar Subterrane, I counted seven in a row. That was particularly frustrating since almost every enemy attack was a one-hit KO on my weaker party members, who ended up in the front row. I know people say the 2D versions of IV are quite easy, but that's not the case when you're severely underlevelled.
Actually, I thought it was a good, fair challenge for the most part - except for one boss, which I'll come to in a moment. I got a few game overs, but I always felt like I could come up with a better strategy and try again without needing to grind. I levelled up a bit before fighting the Archfiends inside the Giant but not excessively. It felt pretty satisfying to scrape through some of the tougher fights.
The fight which completely changed the game was, as you might have guessed, Zeromus. My character levels were in the high 30s when I got to him and they stood no chance - not a single one of them survived the first Big Bang, which seems to ignore protect, shell, defend and even Brace (I brought Yang with me since Rydia's HP was so pathetic). I levelled them up to about 45 - which unlocks Curaja - and tried again. Still no use: even though Yang, Cecil and Kain started to survive the opening Big Bang, at least occasionally, Edge and Rosa couldn't and I needed Rosa to cast Curaja because in this version of the game, Zeromus opens with two Big Bangs.
I had to level Rosa up to 50 before she started consistently surviving the attack. Edge still snuffed it most of the time but at least I could use Cecil to throw a Phoenix Down and follow it up with Curaja. Even then, I had to try the battle a few times because of bad damage ranges. Since the nearest save point is some distance away and there's an extremely long cut-scene before the fight starts, that got very boring very quickly, and I resorted to using the emulator's speed-up function to skip the cut-scene. In the end, it took me three and a half hours of in-game time to level up sufficiently.
I don't mind that Zeromus is difficult - most players will do sidequests, levelling up while getting Bahamut, Excalibur and so on, before fighting him - but he's a bit of a speed run destroyer in this version of the game. Even this video which claims to be a world record (I don't doubt that it was, I just don't know if it's been beaten since) levels everyone except Cecil into the high 50s. The main difference is that the player in the video has a much better grinding strategy than mine, which was "play the game until it gets too hard and then fight things near a save point".
Still, now I can say I've completed Final Fantasy IV in a day.
My in-game time was 11:38 (at the post-credits save, I think most speed runners stop the clock when Zeromus is defeated) and it probably took me about 13 hours of real time, or 14 including breaks. I'm pretty sure I could knock a couple of hours off those figures if I played it again right now, and probably another couple if I actually did some research and made a proper plan. Not that I'm going to, though. Retrospective podcast spoilers: I still don't love the game. 
ForceStealer
Double Growth
I've always found FFIV to be a bit oversold. But as for the difficulty, the PSP is the original Super Famicom version which is pretty tough. It's the US SNES and GBA versions that are easier.
That's damn impressive though, Flint, nice job.
That's damn impressive though, Flint, nice job.
Ami
Playing All The Stuff!
- AKA
- Amizon, Commander Shepard, Ellie, Rinoa Heartilly, Xena, Clara Oswald, Gamora, Lana Kane, Tifa Lockhart, Jodie Holmes, Chloe Price.
Finally finished Dragon Age Inquistion (3rd time) but with all the DLC.
I started a new game after watching Ami's channel on youtube.
You took 60+ hours of my life awayBitchAmi.
anothercid
Human, being
Super Metroid. I feel like I have to confess to being a heavy walkthrough user because the thing about Super Metroid is that it's not that hard *most of the time* but in terms of progress it's very obtuse. Everything you need is hidden away in places I'd never even have thought of.
Other than that, the game is extraordinary. Beautiful and atmospheric in a way I didn't know the SNES was capable of.
Other than that, the game is extraordinary. Beautiful and atmospheric in a way I didn't know the SNES was capable of.
ForceStealer
Double Growth
Finally finished Tales of the Abyss. The last 10 hours before the last dungeon or two dragged some. Lots of just "go here for a scene. Okay now go here for a scene. Okay now here for another scene. But beyond that a solid game. An engaging battle system once you get the hang of it (which took me awhile).
Cthulhu
Administrator
- AKA
- Yop
I have to admit... I'm having trouble staying 'with' FO4. IDK, it feels lacking in polish and shit, plus the music (or lack thereof) makes it a depressing game. The problems with other Bethesda games (in that engine) haven't been fixed either, things like random quests starting while you pass them by, unable to hear NPC's talk when you're more than three feet away from them, etc.
Kionae
Pro Adventurer
- AKA
- Desha
TBH, I wasn't really astounded by Fallout 4, either. It was really easy to get Platinum... you can do it in a single playthrough if you roll back to a previous save when you get to the point that you have to pick a faction. Fallout 3 and New Vegas seemed like important choices happened a lot earlier, and were a lot harder to roll back.
I did like the settlement building side of it, though.
I did like the settlement building side of it, though.
Cthulhu
Administrator
- AKA
- Yop
Yeah, that was a nice gimmick which I'm sure they'll bring back in the next TES game too, Hearthstone was just the beginning and heavily linear (there was already a similar mechanic in TES 3). What the game(s) really need is just a lot more polish, in terms of both gameplay and progression. By gameplay I mean less jerky animations and action, no companions just getting in front of you while you're trying to shoot something, that kinda thing. But, they'd probably need a whole new engine and to rebuild everything they've built up in the last 15 years or however long it's been, which probably wouldn't go down very well (with either their own content teams or the modders)
JamesGoblin
Lv. 1 Adventurer
Warhammer Online, I "finished" it after it was shut down in 2013. And in general, the whole concept of "finished" fits much better to single players.
Abortedj
The Crawling Chaos
- AKA
- Abortedj, The Offender, Abortedjesus, Testicules,
Grim Fandango. The remastered version. Was a lot of fun. Was so happy to be able to play this game without the "tank controls", which were LITERALLY the reason I never finished this game back in the day. Also, skeleton women that were oddly attractive... penis is confused.
AvecAloes
Donator
Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions.
As Force knows (he witnessed me crying, after all), I was not a huge fan of the Shakespearean Tragedy Ending. I loved playing the game, and didn't want it to end, and once it HAD ended, I was REALLY upset that I had beaten it. I am such a sucker for happy endings. FFX's ending was difficult for me, too. Ugh. But anyway, I honestly really did like the game and the story (though frustratingly unfair for Ramza), and I've really gotten into Strategy RPG's as of late, so I very much enjoyed the game. There were a couple of facets of the battle system that I wasn't so much a fan of, mainly the fact that once you moved, you were stuck with that move even if you realized that you STILL wouldn't be in range for any of your attacks to hit, but that wasn't a huge problem. Just an annoyance, really.
As Force knows (he witnessed me crying, after all), I was not a huge fan of the Shakespearean Tragedy Ending. I loved playing the game, and didn't want it to end, and once it HAD ended, I was REALLY upset that I had beaten it. I am such a sucker for happy endings. FFX's ending was difficult for me, too. Ugh. But anyway, I honestly really did like the game and the story (though frustratingly unfair for Ramza), and I've really gotten into Strategy RPG's as of late, so I very much enjoyed the game. There were a couple of facets of the battle system that I wasn't so much a fan of, mainly the fact that once you moved, you were stuck with that move even if you realized that you STILL wouldn't be in range for any of your attacks to hit, but that wasn't a huge problem. Just an annoyance, really.
Flintlock
Pro Adventurer
^ I set up WotL on an Android emulator a while ago because I want to play it with point-and-click controls. I've never actually played Tactics before. And I'm fine with Shakespearian tragedy endings. 
OT: ex-girlfriend and I played all the way through Detective Grimoire in one sitting last night. It's short; we even got 100% and all achievements. The puzzles are pointlessly easy and the "detective" work can be solved through brute force - present all the clues to everyone. The story isn't that gripping either. But... I still enjoyed it. The writing, the voice acting and the animations just about manage to make up for the sins. And it was only a couple of Euros. I think it would be a great game for a 10-13 year old child.
OT: ex-girlfriend and I played all the way through Detective Grimoire in one sitting last night. It's short; we even got 100% and all achievements. The puzzles are pointlessly easy and the "detective" work can be solved through brute force - present all the clues to everyone. The story isn't that gripping either. But... I still enjoyed it. The writing, the voice acting and the animations just about manage to make up for the sins. And it was only a couple of Euros. I think it would be a great game for a 10-13 year old child.
Ami
Playing All The Stuff!
- AKA
- Amizon, Commander Shepard, Ellie, Rinoa Heartilly, Xena, Clara Oswald, Gamora, Lana Kane, Tifa Lockhart, Jodie Holmes, Chloe Price.
Finished the Trespaser DLC on Dragon Age: Inquisition last night. I'm definitely going to need to reload previous saves and see how things go with different decisions.
ForceStealer
Double Growth
^ I set up WotL on an Android emulator a while ago because I want to play it with point-and-click controls. I've never actually played Tactics before. And I'm fine with Shakespearian tragedy endings.
DO IT.
(Though, incidentally, were TLS to ever do a Tactics community playthrough, it would be one of the few I would be comfortable running
)