The "What Are You Playing Now?" Thread

I think they may have made a mistake positioning XIII-2 as a direct sequel rather than a spinoff. People who didn't like XIII (or didn't even try it based on the complaints) most likely won't even consider getting XIII-2.

That said, reviews have been looking good so far, and I enjoyed XIII, so naturally I picked up my copy yesterday.

20ish hours into the game now.

Much better than FFXIII. Not as linear. Feels bigger, but is smaller.

Finally got to the end of Skyward Sword only to be reminded of how much I loathe stacked boss fights. At this point I'd rather snap the disc in half than do the grinding necessary to prepare for yet another boss battle.

Also managed the 70 gratitude crystals and now the ungrateful demon wants 80... sigh.

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Originally Posted by Yaxa

Finally got to the end of Skyward Sword only to be reminded of how much I loathe stacked boss fights. At this point I'd rather snap the disc in half than do the grinding necessary to prepare for yet another boss battle.sigh.

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What grinding? Through the normal course of play you could probably get enough of the right bugs to fill up at least 3 bottles with the heart potion++. You don't need the Hylian shield to beat him.

Spoiler for Demise:

you only need to parry for the first part, you can dodge throughout the entire lightning portion

So, I haven't really played much new recently, but the other day I did download Ghost Trick Phantom Detective on the iPhone (it's a DS port) and became hopelessly addicted to the point where I stay up all night playing it instead of just playing one chapter a day like a sensible person.

It's a Capcom adventure puzzle styled game, in which you play a ghost that has to solve the mystery behind his death. You do so by possessing and manipulating objects in each stage. Several people die over the course of the story, and most of the puzzles involve manipulating the environment in such a way that you prevent their death.

It's very simple, but very engrossing, and I like the story (surprise surprise) too.

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Originally Posted by Yttrium

I'm surprised at how GOOD this game is. Arkham Asylum was fun, but I didn't 100% it...

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This is good news for me, AA was one of my favorite games of the year it came out in and I did 100% it (well except for the challenge mode). Good to hear AC is that much better.

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Originally Posted by Thwick

Through the normal course of play you could probably get enough of the right bugs to fill up at least 3 bottles with the heart potion++. You don't need the Hylian shield to beat him.

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During my preparations before the final dungeon I stocked up two heart potion ++, a fairy, and a goddess guardian potion (or whatever it's called) "just in case".

I only needed one of the heart potion bottles, but did end up using the guardian potion because I newbed up and took 5 minutes to figure out the obvious pattern to one part of the fight. If you need breathing room to figure stuff out, it works pretty well. They did a good job making him seem scarier than he actually is, I enjoyed that fight quite a bit.

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Originally Posted by Thwick

What grinding? Through the normal course of play you could probably get enough of the right bugs to fill up at least 3 bottles with the heart potion++. You don't need the Hylian shield to beat him.[/SPOILER]

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After my first dismal attempt (which followed several dismal attempts at the previous boss), I had no money, no sacred shield (broke during the previous fight), no potions, and while I had a shitton of bugs, I didn't have the ones needed to infuse potions or upgrade the shield. And the sword controls never did work properly for me, so any fight that required precise hits was an exercise in frustration.

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Originally Posted by Wool

I only needed one of the heart potion bottles, but did end up using the guardian potion because I newbed up and took 5 minutes to figure out the obvious pattern to one part of the fight. If you need breathing room to figure stuff out, it works pretty well. They did a good job making him seem scarier than he actually is, I enjoyed that fight quite a bit.

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I never did figure out an actual pattern. I ended up beating the lightning form by simply throwing myself at him and burning through non-infused potions.

That said, I absolutely loathe boss fights in general. Tradition be damned, if it were up to me, they could be done away almost entirely. It's one thing if they're a natural extension of the game, but in most games (Zelda included), boss fights have little to do with what you do for the other 99% of the game. A positive example (to me) were the puzzle-based boss "fights" in Tomb Raider Underworld.

Oh well, at last it's all over now :p

(And of course I neglected to copy my save before the final battle, so I couldn't go back and finish the side quests even if I wanted to.)


Started Uncharted 3 for a change of pace and was greeted with three slow, boring chapters that could've been a 5-minute intro...

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Originally Posted by Yaxa

(And of course I neglected to copy my save before the final battle, so I couldn't go back and finish the side quests even if I wanted to.)

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Same, that sucked.

I've been back to playing Battlefield 3 before I dive into a new game. I'm thinking Gears of War 3 as a total 180 from Zelda.

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Originally Posted by Yaxa

That said, I absolutely loathe boss fights in general. Tradition be damned, if it were up to me, they could be done away almost entirely.

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<gasp> Blasphemy! :p

Seriously though, the boss at the end of each dungeon has always been a huge part of the formula. I can sort of see how that would be a downer though, in much the same way some people don't like the shooting gameplay in Uncharted.

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Originally Posted by Yaxa

I never did figure out an actual pattern. I ended up beating the lightning form by simply throwing myself at him and burning through non-infused potions.

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That's what I tried at first. I eventually decided it was doable but more trouble than it's worth, then I had my duh moment. If you want to kick yourself, read on!

Spoiler for massive end boss spoilers:

You can use skyward strikes to harness the power of lightning yourself. He tends to charge first so you need to immediately dodge then attack.

Game tripped me up by disabling skyward strikes during the first portion. I used them quite a bit in the game, and once I saw they didn't work I never thought to try again later in the fight, until it was apparent his defense was just too ridiculous fighting him normally.

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Originally Posted by Wool

That's what I tried at first. I eventually decided it was doable but more trouble than it's worth, then I had my duh moment. If you want to kick yourself, read on!

Spoiler for massive end boss spoilers:

You can use skyward strikes to harness the power of lightning yourself. He tends to charge first so you need to immediately dodge then attack.

Game tripped me up by disabling skyward strikes during the first portion. I used them quite a bit in the game, and once I saw they didn't work I never thought to try again later in the fight, until it was apparent his defense was just too ridiculous fighting him normally.

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Oh man, that would have been a lot easier! I didn't know that was possible.

Spoiler for I ended up going about it this way:

For the electricity part of Demise/Ganondorf, I would move in close and away from him right at the edge of his sword reach. I would dodge his attacks usually by jumping backwards but if he did the full overhand smash you could jump to the left and get some slashes in on him. Other wise i would keep circling in and out and just wait for him to throw the disc, dodge left, and then sprint up to him and start wailing away.

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Originally Posted by Wool

Seriously though, the boss at the end of each dungeon has always been a huge part of the formula.

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Skyward Sword deviated from the formula in various ways, so I don't see why the boss fights should be held sacred. That doesn't mean they have to eliminate them altogether, but they could at least have tried to come up with something other than the age-old "boss that has to be defeated in direct combat using the toy you just picked up".

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Originally Posted by Wool

I can sort of see how that would be a downer though, in much the same way some people don't like the shooting gameplay in Uncharted.

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That would be me as well. And Uncharted 3 doesn't even seem to have the smooth, cinematic presentation of the first two to make up for it. So far (just got to France) it's been a pain to play.

Spoiler for RE: end boss spoilers:

Huh... go figure. I never even thought to try that as the sword lady specifically told me that it wouldn't work in that place. After all the hand-holding throughout the entire game, it's odd that they would deliberately deceive you like that at the end.

I've been playing Final Fantasy XIII-2 a bit. I'm not too far into it yet but so far it's decent. My biggest complaint is that they took the criticism that the original was too linear a bit too seriously. I finished the second area and opened up a couple new areas. I went into one and proceeded to get smashed into a bloody pulp over and over again. I looked up a few spoilers and found that I'm not supposed to be in that area until much later in the game despite opening access to it now. So I went to the other area I opened up and the difficulty from where I was took a massive leap. So it looks like if I want to make progress I need to grind... Fun...

It has the potential to be a good game (and I liked the original). It seems that there is going to be a lot to do but the game is supposed to only clock in around the 30 hour mark. Because of that people have been saying it's a bit on the short side.

They'll probably be able to pad that play time with DLC. But I don't think it's fair to call 30 hours "short" either. I believe the Gametrailers review said you could finish the game in 20 hours if you kept following the main storyline, so I guess it's "shorter" on additional content than other JRPGs, but still a decent length.

Resident Evil Revelations is amazing! I haven't had this much fun in a RE game for a while. There are actual tense moments. Time where you can get a little scared even! The control scheme is pretty much the same as ever, and the 3D is pretty nice. The demo, as much as I loved it, really did not do this game justice. I highly recommend picking it up if you like older RE games.

I actually just picked that up. Unfortunately they didn't have the Circle Pad, so I hope the game controls decently without the second nub.

30-40 hours is probably the optimal jrpg length for me. I admit when GT said this could be done in 20 hours I got a little happy though, as there aren't enough short jrpgs in all honesty. Sometimes you want the gameplay and melodrama without dedicating an entire month to one game.

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Originally Posted by Yaxa

That would be me as well. And Uncharted 3 doesn't even seem to have the smooth, cinematic presentation of the first two to make up for it. So far (just got to France) it's been a pain to play.

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I'm not sure exactly what you mean by this. I thought many of the aspects were more cinematic than before. The bar room brawl for example. It was almost like a cutscene you play, without resorting to quicktimes.

It's definitely more of an action game than before though. There are a few things you should probably like in comparison to the older ones though, without spoiling anything.

I'm playing Dragon Nest and some SWTOR - but I'm really in a holding pattern for ME3.
*rubs hands* It's going to be aaaawesoooome! :grinyes:

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Originally Posted by Wool

I admit when GT said this could be done in 20 hours I got a little happy though, as there aren't enough short jrpgs in all honesty. Sometimes you want the gameplay and melodrama without dedicating an entire month to one game.

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Same here. Especially after the time I put into Skyrim. :p

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Originally Posted by Wool

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by this. I thought many of the aspects were more cinematic than before. The bar room brawl for example. It was almost like a cutscene you play, without resorting to quicktimes.

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The brawl felt like I was playing Heavy Rain. Move to predetermined position, hit predetermined buttons, wait for money shot, rinse, repeat. And the "resolution" of that scene later on just cheapened the experience, imo.

The young Nate scenes also didn't "click" for me. Quite the contrary. Tailing Sulli was maddeningly slow, and young Nate climbing like his adult counterpart...

Anyway, it served its purpose as an introduction to the story and the characters (and their relationships), I just think it would have been better as a 5-minute intro.

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Originally Posted by Yaxa

I actually just picked that up. Unfortunately they didn't have the Circle Pad, so I hope the game controls decently without the second nub.

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I haven't picked up the circle pad pro yet and have no issues at all. I probably will to both help with my gigantic hands, and because I can see where it would be useful in Raid Mode. The base story so far has not been very hectic though so it doesn't feel necessary there. The game very much returned to the roots of the series.

Yeah... I missed the direct camera control at first, but quickly adapted to it. Quick turn helps.

I have been thinking about picking it up for that and to be able to scan more easily. I think I would miss a lot of the slow pace of the controls though. They fit the game and atmosphere so damned well. It seems odd to me that RE5 would have benefited so much from the extra run and gun ability and it was left out while RE: Revelations just gets rid of some annoyance yet has it. Oh game design.