What games are you playing 2: The revenge

[seitora]

Kingdom Hearts 1.5 Final Mix

I finished all the stuff in the Colosseum. I got the Trophy for all Shields, but not for all Staves. I had to go finish getting all the Dalmations for one of the Staves, which I did...the other one was the Wizard's Relic, which I didn't have yet despite killing over 400 Wizards up to this point with Lucky Strike on (though since a lot of them would have been from the Colosseum, that doesn't count). It took me about...15-20 minutes of grinding to get that drop? I've seen the Hotel and Alleyway mentioned in Traverse Town, but I found it a lot easier to do in the Bamboo Thicket in Deep Jungle.

After that, there's one mini-game I think I have to do still to finish off Jiminy's Diary, and then...the Gummi ship missions. Which I don't really look forward to one bit. So I took the time to start a Proud file and cleared up to Wonderland already. After that, I think it'll be a little while before I get any further. I try not to burn out on one game if I feel like I'm getting close to that, so I'll play a game or two else first before I come back to this in a few days or a week.

 

[Jimbobob5536]

The gummi ship stuff is why I don't have the plats for I or II.

 

[seitora]

The gummi ship stuff is why I don't have the plats for I or II.

I can imagine. Who actually enjoys that stuff? Shmups exist and are almost universally superior to the gummi ship missions

Breaking away a little bit from Kingdom Hearts...



Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster

I played the original game about 15 years ago, and never got too far in it. In fact, I'm decently certain I stopped playing somewhere in the Great Underpass of Ginza. I vaguely remember fighting Isora monsters in the underpass, and defeating the Troll boss in Ginza, but nothing after that. I just got to Ikebukuro, and this is new territory to me.

Speaking of the Great Underpass of Ginza, I'm getting Persona 5 Royal vibes. Not because of similar themes or how it's a franchise that shares a lot of the monster appearances (demons here, Shadows and Persona there), or the dungeon ambience, or the music. No, because in the early game, I am absolutely struggling with MP management. I should have gone back to get healed up after defeating Matador, and I didn't. I ended up rotating pretty much all my demons around to get fresh ones in with lots of MP, and still used some Chakra Drops. IIRC, you can buy Chakra Drops from some shops, but they're relatively expensive. I'm doing a STR/VIT/AGI build with Demi-Fiend, so his MP is on the low side to, ~75MP right now. Late game it shouldn't matter since my demon allies will have lots of MP and a variety of skills, but early-game he has to pick up the slack for hitting weaknesses.

I'm kind of surprised that I didn't die yet, either. Maybe the game was less difficult than I thought it was, or I was anticipating it to be difficult and ended up powerlevelling enough that I haven't been killed yet? Level 20 in Ikebukuro. I seem to remember losing to Forneus when I played through my first time. I guess it's only a matter of time, though. Both Troll and Matador would have been easier going in with some specific set-ups, but they're also bosses that can absolutely trash you if you go in with a poor set-up (I had one Demon with Force immunity against Matador, which cut him short when using Mazan). So eventually I'll run into a boss that my party is perfectly set-up to be hit at its weaknesses and wiped out fast.

I did do a tiny little bit of research before starting, since I'm playing through on the PS4 version, and mah trophies. It looks like the Hard Mode trophy can be done by simply flipping from Normal to Hard right prior to the endboss. There's six endings that I could theoretically plan for right now to achieve them all in a single run, but I currently intend to just play through the first time without any plan and get one ending, then try to grab the remaining five endings in a NG+. It would make it easier on me to complete the demon compendium, too.

Also, Pixie is adorbs and best companion. Well, she's a High Pixie now.

 

[Zetas]

Geezus, my FF14 server has been invaded by people thanks to Asmongold starting a character on it.

 

[MastaofBitches]

Geezus, my FF14 server has been invaded by people thanks to Asmongold starting a character on it.

I'm not really an MMO fan, but aren't he and his chat supposed to be super toxic, WoW supremacists?

 

[Zetas]

I'm not really an MMO fan, but aren't he and his chat supposed to be super toxic, WoW supremacists?

As far as i know they are, but people have worn him down to try the FF14. Hence my server being slammed with random new Sprouts simping for Asmongold/ a ton of players following his character around and lagging the shit out of the area he's in.

 

[MastaofBitches]

Geez, I hope there's not too much of a negative impact on the community then.

 

[Zetas]

I doubt there will be, Cactuar is a hearty server community, we have the V-shojo girls based here so we've weathered that collective level of simp-storm. Most likely it'll just be a pain to quest/ gather in the area he's in when streaming until he moves to the server he actually wanted to be on.

 

[MastaofBitches]

I'd just be worried about them harassing people.

 

[seitora]

Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster

I got up to Kabukicho Prison, where I'll call it quits for today. I have a couple of work days before I can try getting back to playing it. I made it through all of the Ikebukuro and Assembly of Nihilo sections, including defeating Daisoujou, but not tackling Hell Biker until next time. While they weren't particularly long, I seemed to really powerlevel unwittingly. I'm at Level 34 now. I would estimate 3 levels were specifically from grinding, and then the rest was me just fighting every battle I ran into without ever running away, and trying to negotiate to get some more demons into my party. I still haven't died yet, but it has been by the skin of my teeth.

Even though I'm building Demi-Fiend towards a STR/VIT/AGI build, he ended up carrying lots of the load for me with magic. I had Ice Breath and Shock going into Ikebukuro, which hits the weaknesses of most demons, and then I added the Elec Amp skill going into Nihilo, where nearly every formation of demons has at least one foe weak to electricity. Considering how much Macca I'm finally dropping, I just rolled with it and carried some Chakra Drops, because I was earning enough Macca to well outpace my SP consumption.

I was able to get Brainwash on a Shiisa, and Media + Mana Refill on an Ame no Uzume, which will be big helps for me in recruiting Demons and for trawling through long dungeons again. A few fusions later, and I have a Baphomet at Level 33 with Brainwash now too, which will help me fill up my Demon compendium a little bit easier. At 22% of my compendium already. I don't remember, did PS2 Nocturne let you pick your demon skills in a fusion? Or was it like P3/P4 vanilla, where you had to select a fusion, then exit and re-enter multiple times before you got the draw of skills you wanted? If picking skills individually was added for the Remaster, thank God for that quality of life.

 

[seitora]

Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster

I went up against Hell Biker. I have a Baphomet with Media who basically made this fight really easy, since any time Hell Biker took a chunk of HP off my party, I healed them right back up. I finished up Kabukicho Prison. Going through the dungeon was a little slow to start, since I actually didn't have anybody with an Agi spell, which half the demons are weak to. I did have somebody with a Mazanma spell, where the other half of the enemy demons in the Prison are weak to Force. Fortunately, my Baphomet was one level away from getting Maragion, so after a little bit of grinding and getting that, I was really able to sweep through the dungeon. Baphomet also has Mana Refill, so I only needed a couple of Chakra Drops for my demon with Mazanma. Macca drops right now are more than enough to keep a supply of Chakra Drops on hand now.

Demi-Fiend is up to Level 39 now. I kind-of, sort-of would love to cosplay with his sick tats, just once.

I'm...a little surprised, going off the Trophy achievement stats, how little people seem to Negotiate or Fuse Demons. I had the Trophy for 30 Negotiations pop up in the Prison, and it was at 15%, where the latest story-related trophies are at about 35-40% achievement.

 

[MastaofBitches]

Been giving the demo of Monster Hunter Stories 2 a shot, seems pretty fun from what little I've seen of it. Also Ghost of Tsushima, and Genshin Impact.

 

[sikle]

I've been playing Disgaea 6. The story is actually pretty strong, I think. The problem is the gameplay. The Disgaea series is known for being repetitive and grindy, so that's not the complaint. The issue is the heights it's intended for you to reach, and the intended method of doing that, 'Demonic Intelligence' which lets you automate the gameplay. It turns the game from a tactical RPG to an idle game.
There have also been some serious complaints brought up by people who've played the game in Japanese that they've intentionally nerfed stealing, such as by removing the "Stealing Hand" series of items and instead making it a unique skill for the thieves in the game with a natural cap of 50%, unless you purchase a DLC character with a transferable ability that doubles it. Which used to be the native ability of thieves in previous iterations.
Overall, I'd say that if you really enjoy the series, go ahead and buy it. On the other hand, if you'd rather wait until there's a Disgaea 6 Complete, go for it.

 

[Zetas]

My main problem with Disgaea 6 right now is the lack of non-disgaea post game characters like Zetta and his troupe of maniacs or series standard Priere.

 

[sikle]

I'm guessing the transition to 3D models wasn't as easy as they were expecting, the switch has much stricter limitations than PC or PS4, and you can tell they're letting some of their gacha garbage infect the gameplay.

 

[seitora]

Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster

Went through the Ikebukuro underground, then the whole Asasuka segment, back through the Assembly of Nihilo, and finally got to the Obelisk. Demi-Fiend is now at Level 46.

The tunnel section was rather interesting, honestly. Some confusing back and forth and figuring out the holes and where to drop down, but save points were frequent and I was able to figure out which set of spells to use to knock down enemy demons fairly quick. I only ended up killing two of the four Oni fiends before I finished the underground section, so doubled back to find the remaining one (the last Oni fiend was pretty obvious where he was).

Oh yeah. I died, for the first time, against Fuu-Ki. I went in with a Magatama where Demi-Fiend was weak to Force, so a couple of Mazanma spells took me out quick. Fortunately, going in with Null Force let me sweep the floor with Fuu-Ki right away . But that's what I meant earlier where I expected to eventually die because I can't know the set-up needed for every boss ahead of time, so sooner or later I was going to run into a boss who could hit my weaknesses easily because I don't know I need those weaknesses covered.

...then I died to Ongyo-Ki right after. I went in on a New Kagutsuchi since I have two demons with Dark Might, so was hoping to get 7 hits a turn, 3 of them being Criticals. Ever since about Ikebukuro, I've been going into every boss battle I know about ahead of time in New Kagutsuchi to get those Critical hits. I actually lasted quite a while, but he still wiped my party anyways. Then I looked up that you need to go in on a Full Kagutsuchi. Conveniently, I had a demon with Bright Might, too. That was that.

After that, Asasuka and so on went by more quickly.

I haven't yet done the Labyrinth of Amala at all. After I finish the Obelisk, I think I will go through at least part of the Labyrinth for a break. I think I read somewhere I can't negotiate to pick up demons from there...('Is It Wrong to Pick up Demon Girls in a Labyrinth?!'), so I would just be straight levelling up as I go through that segment.

I finally got a Jade while going through the Ikebukuro underground, so I was able to get my first Mitama. And then a second Mitama thereafter, since I got the two Element demons I didn't already have, and they could fuse into another Mitama. So, sweet. It looks like Mitamas in this game are for giving a stat bonus to pre-existing demons besides the Demi-Fiend, and presumably to throw a couple of useful spells onto a Demon that the Mitamas have? I'm far from an endgame party so far so I won't bother with using them much yet (...not to mention they're damn expensive in the Compendium).

At 33% completion so far in my compendium. I expect it'll be really expensive to complete it when it's all said and done, which might make the Labyrinth of Amala more useful in getting my Macca up.

 

[Zetas]

Auto-grinding Hel and breeding innocents in the Disgaea 6 post-game. Also poked my nose into carnage levels and promptly got it and everything above the waist cut off, seriously the high level enemies are no joke.

 

[seitora]

Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster

Completed the Obelisk. The Moirae sisters...actually weren't that bad at all. After that, I went to the Labyrinth of Amala instead of continuing the story. I got through the entirety of the 1st Kalpa, and most of the 2nd Kalpa before I had to wrap up to head off to work. I swapped out my High Pixie into my party to get her a few levels since I knew she would evolve into Queen Mab, and she did. No offensive spells yet, so I'll have to level up a Mitama to give her something, preferably Mazionga, before she gets Maziodyne naturally at Level 61. My Compendium is at 36% right now. Demi-Fiend is at Level 52.

I think I will complete the Labyrinth of Amala in this run and go for the True Demon Ending. For one, I'll be able to get the Ubermensch Pixie and retain her in my Compendium for the next run, which will make it easier for me to blow through a lot of the early game. I'll be able to get more of my compendium finished by way of battling/making Macca in the Labyrinth, too, so I don't need to retread a whole lot when splitting five different saves in my next run.

 

[chronodekar]

I've been playing Disgaea 6. The story is actually pretty strong, I think. The problem is the gameplay. The Disgaea series is known for being repetitive and grindy, so that's not the complaint. The issue is the heights it's intended for you to reach, and the intended method of doing that, 'Demonic Intelligence' which lets you automate the gameplay. It turns the game from a tactical RPG to an idle game.
There have also been some serious complaints brought up by people who've played the game in Japanese that they've intentionally nerfed stealing, such as by removing the "Stealing Hand" series of items and instead making it a unique skill for the thieves in the game with a natural cap of 50%, unless you purchase a DLC character with a transferable ability that doubles it. Which used to be the native ability of thieves in previous iterations.
Overall, I'd say that if you really enjoy the series, go ahead and buy it. On the other hand, if you'd rather wait until there's a Disgaea 6 Complete, go for it.

I'm surprised that Disgaea 6 got released! Last I heard, they made a trailer for the Switch. Oh well, I must have missed the launch reviews. Good to hear that the game is fun.

-chronodekar

 

[chronodekar]

Over the past couple of weeks, I got obsessed with playing a few ecchi games. You'll probably recognize some of these;

Gal*Gun: Returns

I'm surprised that I even got my hands on this one. It was a moment of boredom and wanting something to do hidden away from everyone. I think. This is the remake of the first game in the series. It's fun. The premise is you have a gun and you shoot females to give them estcasy. The technical details of how this all works, is really irrelevant. It's really silly watching the girl's reactions when shooting them. There's even a scoring system where, if you hit them at a certain location (varies between all the girls), you get more points.

Gal*Gun: Double Peace

The prior game was so much fun, that I grabbed this one too. Chronologically, it's the second game in the series, but it didn't get a remaster (I'm playing PC), so from a technical perspective, it is a bad console port. There were mini-game segments which, for the life of me, I could not get working without an extra controller. Which is a real shame. I liked the game-play in this one better than the first. More things to do.

Both games advertise a doki-doki mode ... which I found boring. I suppose it was fun the first time round (the premise had me laughing!), but beyond that, I got tired of it.

If you want something silly and have time to kill, I can recommend both of these - they are fun, but not AAA-game value (in terms of price).

Now that I think about it, the "plot" is what kept me playing. As in; GG:returns has 4 routes. I completed them. GG:double peace has about 4 or 5 (or more depending on how you count). Using a walkthrough, it was a smooth experience (except for needing a controller at some points!). I have no idea if I'll bother to load either of these games up again; sooo... they are good one-time play games?

I'll suggest playing it on PC. The mouse makes targeting trivially simple.

-chronodekar

 

[HotelKatz]

I've started playing Super Mario Odyssey. I have a few Amiibos to make finding Power Moons and regional coins easier.

I have an urge to go back to playing Graveyard Keeper, but I played that so much that I feared burnout.

 

[seitora]

Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster

So, I finished the Second Kalpa in the Labyrinth of Amala, and freed all of the Riders, all four of which I've since killed. After returning back to the regular game, I made my way through the Amala Network again, then got through the return to Asasuka, and finally through all of Yoyogi Park. It seems like it was really quick in retrospect, but the time really adds up with all the random battles. I think I'm somewhere around 30 hours in-game? I don't really have an accurate time, because for some reason the in-game timer keeps ticking even when I'm in the Playstation menu. Looking at how many skills I have to get on my Magatama still, I'll probably have to get Demi-Fiend up to Level 120 or 130. At this point, I'll probably just save myself time and buy the DLC for the easy level-ups in a while. I have the money.

Also, I picked up the Piscasa in the Labyrinth of Amala with Riberoma, Lightoma, etc. I decided to level grind a little bit in Yoyogi Park, and...huh. It was actually a lot more useful than I expected, since it causes enemies to come in waves in battle a lot, like 3 or 4 or even 5 waves, so I don't have to run back and forth and start a new battle every time. The experience points really added up. It'd be possible to get overwhelmed quickly HP/MP-wise, but I have a Daisoju now with Meditation, Prayer, and Preach, so I can restore MP, restore the entire party's health and status effects, and hit enemies with Mind damage that some of them in the Park are weak to. While most of my party besides Demi-Fiend isn't geared to physical attacks, they were usually strong enough to carry through.

Demi-Fiend is at Level 61 now, with 46% Compendium completion.

 

[sikle]

Word of advice? As tempting as it might be to progress the story to get the other magatama there's actually a point where the Labyrinth of Amala NPC's (Not the spirits, the other two) leave, locking you out of access to the final floor. So be sure to place your candelabra as soon as you get them.

 

[Argosh]

Factorio.
I've set up the starter base and basic productions, some things just need adjustments.
Oh, look at that, its hours later and I'm still adjusting things.

 

[chronodekar]

Factorio is a wonderful game. I've lost count of how many hours I sunk into it. The modding community is wonderful too. Though, as the game got updates, a lot of the "important" mods became in-game features.

-chronodekar