What are you currently playing?

I moved about two months ago and as my partner and I have been getting settled, I've been looking forward to getting out some of my systems and playing games on them. (I tested them soon after we arrived and they all still work, thank goodness.)

Problem is, I can't find the memory cards for three of the systems, (PS1, PS2 and Gamecube), and of course, those three systems are the ones I want to play games on. (Or am looking forward to playing games on, since LEGO Batman and The Force Unleashed are coming out soon.)

I've been shopping around, trying to find new (or used) ones at reasonable prices, and I've found some all right deals on Amazon, but I was wondering if any of you knew of other places that were good sources for things like memory cards and games for older systems like the PS1.

I've somehow managed to completely neglect this community and since I've been gaming pretty intensely the whole first half of this year, I thought I'd show some love here. I really like the theme of this community and I've been meanin' to throw out some info for a while now, but then I uhhh... forgot. Sorry about that, moderator-person.

I recently found the time to play through Silent Hill: Origins and I've been dying to put down my thoughts on it somewhere, so I figured this would be a good place to put it. I tried my best to keep it purely spoiler-free and it's mostly just personal observations of game mechanics that I either struggled with or liked and very minor environmental details (I think that's allowed, right?). If this isn't allowed somehow, please tell me so I can remove it and stick it somewhere more appropriate.


( Because I am a bad, bad person and can't summarize to save my own life... )


Keep in mind that although the semi-review is as spoiler-free as I could make it in terms of storyline, the comments might not be. Don't be shy though -- any thoughts, feelings, opinions, suggestions or reasonable debates are a-okay by me. In fact, would anyone like to see more of this type of thing from me?

So, I because my PS2 is having issues with God of War II, I decided to pop in Gauntlet: Dark Legacy. A friend and I completed this a long time ago, complete with killing the spider queen about 50 times just because. I definitely missed this game. So, I'm intent on trying to clear the game with every character in the game. So far, Desert Realm with a level 50 Knight. Woo. Farming the mausoleum for food and gold is fun, lemme tell ya. -_-

Also, being Pojo rocks.

I'm about two-thirds of the way through the game (finished up Temple of Doom last night) and it's a fun little game. I probably shouldn't have been playing LEGO Star Wars so much before LEGO Indy, though. I'm starting to suffer from LEGO burnout. But I'll probably recover in time for LEGO Batman.

Anyway. It's a lot of fun and takes advantage of the touchscreen a lot better than LEGO Star Wars did. Indy's whip, Satipo/Sallah's shovel, monkey access and various other things are all controlled at times by the touchscreen. And the microphone sensitivity when blowing out torches/up rafts is a lot better than in some other DS titles. ("Slide your thumb from the handle to the tip" = dirtiest onscreen instruction ever?)

Wandering around Barnett College makes a nice change from the Cantina in Mos Eisley/Dexter's Diner in Coruscant, with plenty of extra stuff to destroy for LEGO studs. And there's plenty to buy, like minigames, extra characters for free play and things like score multipliers and invicibility. (I know it's in the game somewhere. I just have to find it...)

The vehicle levels have been kind of frustrating, because the controls don't feel as tight as they should, leading to failed attempts to collect idols or get Adventurer status for the level. (Yes, instead of "True Jedi" status for getting a certain amount of LEGO studs in each level, you now strive for "Adventurer".)

There have been a couple of glitches that had me put the game down and walk away from it for awhile. ( Shame on Lucasarts. Did they learn nothing from the glitchtastic release of LEGO Star Wars II for the DS? )

The cutscenes in each level are actually full motion this time (LEGO Star Wars had this weird, mostly still images version of cutscenes on the DS), though I did notice pixelization and a brief dead square during some of the later cutscenes in the Temple of Doom levels.

Definitely recommended, despite the mentioned problems. There are no Nazis Goons with their faces melting off at the end of Raiders, nor is there a scene with Mola-Ram reaching into a guy's chest to pull out his heart. In fact, the most disturbing thing so far has been in a cutscene in Raiders, where that bald muscular guy (I forget his name) gets his head cut off by a plane propeller and his body stumbles around for a moment, looking for his head. If you've played any of the LEGO Star Wars games, this will all seem very familiar. And fun.

First post here, heh. Anyhow, not one to introduce myself in any capacity, so on with the gaming...

World of Warcraft - I've been playing for just less than a year. I've grown really fond of the game, despite its many flaws and drawbacks. I have a level 70 Warlock (Roxanne) on Runetotem that is doing dismally in arenas (but video games are srs bizniz amirite?), and just starting to raid SSC with a new guild. I've managed to get 3/5 T4, but neither of the pieces I actually want (helm, shoulders). Overall, having fun with the game, despite my many alts. Also leveling a restoration shaman on the same server (Kuranis) to heal for another guild I am a part of on that toon. Definitely love healing, and have three healing characters, but have such a difficult time with playing a paladin, so I don't have a holy paladin. The furthest I've gotten so far is level 18 retribution (Lokaar on The Underbog). Already have a tank elsewhere at level 61, so really didn't want to make another.

God of War II - Yeah, I'm slow on the uptake, but because of various circumstances, only recently was able to purchase and play this game. But because my PS2 is a POS, the cut scenes randomly like to skip and take 15 minutes to play, where I can't understand what's being said. Hopefully I've found a temporary fix until I can get a new PS2. Fun game, overall, but lacking in depth.

Lek and I are trying to think of a good, long game for me when we move. (There was talk of saving LEGO Indiana Jones until the move, which was followed quickly by laughter.)

It has to be one that I can play without needing to check a FAQ or walkthrough every few minutes (*cough*PhoenixWright*cough*). Or one that I can play without swearing up a storm and shutting it off every few minutes out of frustration (like New Super Mario Bros.).

I think part of the problem is that I've already played most of the DS games that meet the criteria. Or I've lost interest in them after reaching a certain point in them (Victory Road in Pokemon Diamond, my first winter in Rune Factory).

I'm kind of considering homebrew stuff, just because it would be nice to have the ability to watch fansubs on my DS Lite, but I don't know how expensive that would be. (I'm currently reading through DS Fanboy's guide to homebrew, which just went up this week. Heh.) ...video on the DS Lite isn't a pleasant viewing experience AND you have to convert the files. Hrm.

I might be willing to consider emulation if it meant I could play the Earthbound games.

Ah, yes. Mario Kart Wii. It's a wonderful party game and the Wii Wheel makes it even more fun, especially when you're sitting with three of your closest friends.

Well, that's what it is. Until you want to play single player mode and beat 150cc.

Mario Kart Wii
The game is a great improvement over its earlier titles, although there are some bad things about it. Voice acting is not quite as annoying, and level design is more creative than ever. Some tracks even change every lap, and continuously grow harder as time progresses.

The Wii Wheel itself is not as awkward as one would think. I played with it first and was quite impressed. It doesn't offer the tightest steering, but it is as Nintendo wanted - fun. Thus, if I was to play this game at a party, I'd definitely be using the Wii Wheel.

The bikes are fun, and honestly are my favorite. They offer more handling for less speed to say shortly. Shaking the Wii Wheel to do tricks off of a ramp or a wheelie is also fun and not only that, gets you a boost.

Now, when you go to sit down for that 150cc to unlock achievements? It's a totally different story.

The Wii Wheel suddenly becomes useless because of the high speed and hard tracks. Not only this, but you're gonna have to go into manual mode and squeeze out every boost you can because the game is.. rigged. The luck matters more than skill, especially with items. Lots of people know this to be true from the previous games, but it's ten times worse now.

That person in 12th place is going to get a blue shell, star, bullet bill and lightning bolt all after one another. You in first, what items do you get? Some banana peels and a green shell. The games items are totally rigged, and that can be the main difference between 1st and 12th (and often is).

In general, the game is fun to party with and multiplayer. But when you're playing solo and are trying to win based off that skill you've built up with every previous game - you're going to be frustrated.

I'm working on 150cc and I can say it's the most frustrating thing I've ever faced in a video game. I've been playing Mario Karts since the SNES - every game offering a new skill to perfect, whether it's drifting or whatever else. (The idea of 200cc scares me, and probably is the main reason I'm not playing ten hours a day.)

Another thing is the drifting itself for boosts - it's ridiculously easy in this game. Anyone can do it, letting novices catch up to the pros quite easily. Karts only get two stages of the boosts, and bikes only get one stage. The boost is also quite short.

Despite the fact the game is so frustrating, it's not frustrating in the way you just say screw it and quit the game. (Cough cough Sonic the Hedgehog for the Xbox/PS3.) It's frustrating in the way that you swear at Peach the entire time she waltzes past you as you spin out of control from that last red shell that just had to hit you after a pow block and you lost your green shell.

In short! MKW is a blast for parties. But don't expect your friends who have never touched Mario Kart before to not kick your ass. And when you buckle down to open up that legendary 200cc, you better have some anger management plans.

Hi everyone! It's been a while, huh? ^^;
First things first, once again: There hasn't been terribly much activity lately so it might be a good time time to ask - which kinds of entries would you like to see here and what suggestions do you have to make this community more lively? (I'm starting to wonder if the exclusive focus on gaming progress post might not have been such a good idea, so here's your opportunity to convince me. ^.~) Would you be interested in discussion posts? (Topics?) Reviews? (If you've finished a game and want to share your opinion: by all means, please do!) Or would you prefer the community to stay the same?

- - -

GrimGrimoire (finished)
I was right in the middle of this little jewel when I last posted here and by now I've finished the game. (Yes, I occasionally do finish stuff. *g*) There's a short review/reaction post on my IJ which you can find here. I really enjoyed playing this game, short as it was. There were a lot of memorable characters and the gameplay was fun, even for a RTS newbie like me.

Suikoden V (finished)
The same goes for Suiko5. I finally convinced myself that, please, it might be a Sindar dungeon but it can't be that bad, right? Right?! And it wasn't. Okay, it was quite a bit of a hassle with the three different parties but it was also surprisingly much fun. For a rather long post about the game, the ending and what I really liked about it, see, again, my IJ. (Obviously enough, there are quite a few spoilers in that entry so don't click if you haven't finished the game and don't want to be spoiled.)

Crisis Core (finished)
I played and finished this game within the last week and would like to redirect you to the FFVII tag of my journal becaue the last couple of entries give a better impression of my gaming progress than a short paragraph here could. I found this game very enjoyable as well and remain convinced that the Compilation of FFVII, while not perfect, is better as a whole than most people give it credit for. (And it's great at working with ongoing motifs, that's for sure.)

Odin Sphere
I'm in the middle of Cornelius' chapter and try to gather enough money to be able to afford as many large bags as possible before I go on. More inventory space makes me happy. As does this game in general, but that goes without saying. The characters can be delightfully over dramatic and there's no one that I really don't like. <3 I'm having lots of fun with the gameplay and if you have ever seen screenshots of the game - or better, see how they play out when they're moving - you know that the graphics are gorgeous. 2D at its best, huh? I could stare at it all day. (It also helps that the music is very nice even if some of the battle themes can get a little repetitive (but which battle music doesn't?) and the voice acting, both the Japanese and the English track, is very well done.) Come now, little Pooka Prince, let us find some more cooking ingredients~

Currently waiting for: Persona 3 FES
Currently thinking about playing: Tales of the Abyss (continuing), Wild Arms (starting), Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness (continuing)

I picked up Drawn to Life at Target a couple of days ago because it was on sale for $17 and I'd been curious about it. The game's been a blast, and I'm really enjoying the combination of sidescrolling action (even if the camera is frustrating at times... which shouldn't be a problem in a 2-D game) and playing Go-, er, "Creator" for the Raposas. (Favorite Raposa? CrazyBarks.) It's also gone by really fast. I'm already very close to finishing the game already, (but I'm going back to get all the stuff I may have missed going through the levels the first time around), which is a shame.

Anyway, Drawn to Life is reminding me of Actraiser (the first one). Are there any other games for the DS or PS2 that replicate that blend of action/adventure game with a bit of SimCity/tending to worshippers?

DH started playing my old copy of "Legend of Mana" a week or so ago. I got all nostalgic and began playing again too!

I played it *twice* back in 2000, but had forgotten so much of the mechanics from then to now that I decided to start a new character/new game and start all over.

I'm lovin' it!

Another DS Lite addict here.

Pokemon Diamond: Currently at Victory Road, trying to decide if I want to face the Elite Four now or go back and mess around with other things. Still kind of burned out on the game after plowing through and getting to the eighth Gym.

Puzzle Quest: Still bitter about the tiny text for standard TVs on the PS2/Wii versions, but I will admit to being in love with the DS version. Except for how cheap the enemy AI is with the endless five-minute combos. Nearing the end of this one, too, but I'm currently in my citadel messing around with spells, rune items and training mounts.

Phoenix Wright: Justice For All - Addictive as hell. Currently on the last episode at the start of the trial. I can't believe all the stuff that's gone down in this one episode so far. Sheesh!

Super Princess Peach - Sexism has never been so much fun! I'm currently stuck in Bowser's Villa. Stupid gigantic background Thwomps...

And I was really looking forward to the Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters PS2 port, but I'm amazed Sony let it get released, given how horrible it turned out. Crappy camera, even worse controls and awful graphics... UGH.

First off, hi. I'm new here. Name's Stephanie or Steph or Hunter or Jace or just... Whatever you want to call me.

Currently working on:

1) Shadow Hearts: Covenant. It'll be my second play through. I just currently defeated Idar Flamme and I've done a few side-quests thus far... but unlike Final Fantasy, you can do side-quests just before the last boss fight which makes things ten times easier. I might just ignore everything until I get to that point.

2) Shadow Hearts: From the New World. I'm right at the fight with Malice Killer, but I need to level and just don't really have the heart to do so. For some reason, I got this far and just don't want to finish the game. It's great, but it just doesn't hold my interest. I sat down with it around 5 this morning and couldn't play it but for an hour. I'm not sure, maybe my opinion will change once I kill Killer (which is pretty fun to say--I kill killer).

3) God Hand. I'll say it flat out. I love Capcom. I love Shinji Mikami (mmm resident evil). I love crack games. Throw them all together, it is this game. Oh my God, I'm only on the third stage, but I love it. The game mechanics were fairly difficult to grasp for me at first, but once I got the hang of it, I got addicted. Seriously. I was thrown off at first by the fact that... well, for the first--what, two stages?--there was no indication as to what the crap the story was about, just that you were some guy walking into town with a chick and punching the living daylights out of some guys. You know, until a demon comes out of one of them. No. Clue. As to what was going on.

The dialogue is witty, fun. The characters are just... epic. The only downside for some people was the environment. Wasn't that great, but to me? Does not matter. You're talking to a person that still plays Mega Man on her NES.

God Hand is my new crack.

Hi everyone!
First of all I'd like to let you know that we have a new affiliate (okay, it's been one for a while but I somehow didn't get around write about it. Sorry about that.): nintendods, a community that deals with - you'll have guessed it - the Nintendo DS and the various games for this system. Be sure to have a look if it sounds interesting to you. ^_^

And now for my own gaming progress...

GrimGrimoire
I'd started to play this game ages ago but never played much further than the first five days. When I saw that it was finally released in my country as well I picked my (imported) copy up again and started to play it again from the start. By now I'm pretty far into it (15 fights out of the 25 needed to complete the storyline) and the story starts to come together slowly. I really want to know whodunnit. ^.^ I love the charming characters - the devil Advocat is brilliant - and even the battle system. I've said before that I'm not very familiar with RTS but Grimgrimoire is easy enough that I can play through it on Normal so far. (There was only one stage I kept having trouble with so I switched to Easy for that battle but I haven't had to go down to Sweet so far. Phew.) Summoning cute Elves to gather Mana or mighty dragons to stomp all over the map and destroy everything in their path? Sign me up please!
(Most recent reason to squee over this game: Lujei just showed up for the first time and her dynamic with Opalneria is the exact opposite of what you'd expect from looking at them. Heeeeeeh.)

Magical Starsign
This game continues to be ridiculously cute and I'm having lots of fun with it. My second visit on the Water Planet ended right before I decided to make this entry and I'm looking forward to playing more. (I don't even know why. The game's just very charming in an "old school" way even though it's a fairly new game.) I want a Lassi plushie.

Suikoden V
When I wrote about this game the last time I was about to attack the capital. By now I've actually won that fight and have to prepare for the final dungeon. (Nooooooo! I hate Sindar dungeons. ;__; They're never all that bad but for some reason they still annoy me.) Let me just say that I absolutely loved the scene in the throne room when you've just taken the city. I was never too fond of Gizel but that scene made me like him... And Lym is my little hero.

Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness
I haven't had that much time to play lately so I've only been able to advance one chapter (which means that now I'm in #4). I have however unlocked all the basic classes (the ones you don't need lvl 100+ charactres for anyway) and my Ninjas and Samurais are happily leveling up in the Item World. Did I mention recently that I love the Item World? *g* I also created a knight even though I'm not sure whether or not I'll really do anything with her. She's pretty weak so far - do knights get better with higher levels?

Kingdom Hearts (replay, finnished)
Heeeh. It's been more than two years since I first played this game and a week or so ago I just couldn't resist the urge to play through it again. It's such a lovely game and I find it to be very heart-warming. (I also love Disney so that probably helps. ^.~) And what can I say? I've already finished it again. I was surprised to see that it's pretty short if you just play through the storyline. But it was lots of fun and I'm glad that I still enjoy it so much. <3

I already have enough games that I'm currently playing. Someone stop me from picking up SMT: Nocturne, Xenogears or Chrono Trigger. o_0

Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime
So, on Saturday Walter and I decided to go to Killeen to visit our parents and so I could go see a friend and try to cheer her up. We hit up the local mall and I say, "You know what? I'd like a new game to play. Let's hit EB Games and look up the used DS stuff." It's agreed, and I shuffle through the stuff there and come up with three: Viewtiful Joe ($7.99), Pokémon Trozei ($17.99), and Rocket Slime ($17.99). I wind up picking Rocket Slime because I'm not interested in Viewtiful Joe (sorry, friend who loves that game to death) and because I don't need another Pokémon or puzzle game.

I've been playing it ever since in between bouts of RPing and archiving said RP on our backup forums and modding/updating what I can. It's fun! I'm halfway tempted to make an RP out of this because it's rather adorable and straightforward. (I'm also already plotting what my 'me' Slime looks like.)

Right now, I've completed Forewood Forest as far as rescuing Slimes goes. I could finish off Tootinschleiman's Tomb or move on to Mountain Krakatroda, but I'd rather go back through Forewood Forest first and make sure to grab all I need to of what I can. It's just how I am. I am so, so happy that my tanks can have crews now-- fighting alone was a pain in the rear, let me tell you. My crew is pretty straightforward-- Hooly, Blubba, and Swotsy. It was recommended in an FAQ (I had to read it to remind myself where the last tank in Forewood Forest was), and it works out pretty well. I like seeing Hooly shoot himself out of the tank and say stuff like "Nobody can defeat me!" and stuff like that. Fun times.

Anyway, I'm going to get back to that now before I head on out to the store. There's my update!

I don't guess I ever posted here, because all I've been playing recently is Pac-Man and fighting games (please tell me there's a KoF fan in here somewhere?). They're fun, but not much to talk about. This weekend, though, I bought Resident Evil 4 and Final Fantasy X-2.

I just finished chapter 1 of RE4! I've never played any of the games before (I saw the movie. I was unimpressed.) but I'm enjoying this one. I just met that guy with the blue torch and now I'm running around some bridge-things... I'm terrible at describing locations, I'm sorry. I'm excited to keep going with it!

X-2 is the first time I've played a Final Fantasy game (though I've watched plenty of others, so I'm not lost) but I haven't gotten very far at all on it.

Other than that--Neo Geo Battle Coliseum is taking up most of my time. :D

Hello, my name is Em, and I am addicted to [Perfect World].

I discovered this game a couple of weeks ago and have been busily creating characters, exploring the low levels, and taking a load of screencaps ever since :). Right now I have a level 12 Werefox named Khristina, level 7 Elf Priest named Asmodea, and a level 3 Human Warrior named Daboorah. I'm still deciding which will be my favorite class to play, but right now I'm just excited to be learning about the game and finding new locations, skills, etc.

I managed to tame a pet for my Werefox the other day!

I've posted about this almost non-stop in my IJ and if you're interested you can read all about it [here], so I won't repeat myself in this post; but now I know where I can go when I just have to say more about what I'm doing and how fun it is, hehehe.

For years, I tried unsuccessfully to get into gaming--all my friends were gamers, and I was the only one going, "Durr, how do you make Dante go up the cliff?" Something finally clicked, though, and I am slowly making my way towards finishing a game that is NOT a dating sim or Super Mario Bros. I have yet to finish an RPG, even though I've started a bunch over the years, and I aim to fix that by finally finishing one.

Right now, I'm playing:

DS:
Final Fantasy III - So, I suck at gaming, but I'm really enjoying this. It's my first time playing it and I really like the story so far and the characters. Unfortunately, I'm stuck at the place where you're supposed to make everyone miniaturized so they can enter some place in the forest (I'm playing it in Japanese, so I'm not sure what the names are in English) because none of my characters have the MP for the spell. What do I do? *cry*

PS2:
Kingdom Hearts - Yes, I am so behind everyone, I know. >XD I started playing over winter break, and I love it to bits. I've stopped for a bit partially because I don't have time right now for a super-involved game, but mainly because I am lost in the Cave of Wonders--I need to get into the treasure room and yet I keep failing badly at it. I'm going to give it a go again once I finish the game that has eaten my brain.

PSP (borrowed from a friend for one game):
Crisis Core - I'm only a bit into the story of the game, mainly because I'm going on a lot of missions and trying to level up and get used to the battle system--it's nothing like the other FF battle systems (III, IV, VII, VIII) I've seen--it's kind of like a mix of the FF and KH system, with a slot machine thrown in for shits and giggles. While it is enjoyable to see three smirking Sephiroth heads come up on your screen, it's a bit distracting when you're in the middle of trying to do something when the game decides it's loto time. However, the game is all about Zack, and Zack is love, so it's all perfectly ok. Well, aside from the fact my Dead Zack count is up to four, because the bosses make short work of me the first time, and poison sucks. Right now, I'm in Genesis' and Angeal's hometown and about to have a go at another mission, to gather mako stones, and hope the poison draining my HP some twerpy little toad-thing injected me with doesn't get me killed this time. Do any of y'all know how long poison lasts, BTW?

(Forever Blue in Japan) for the Nintendo Wii! Diving, exploring, living a laid-back life! I love this open-ended game!

I've already been posting about it a lot in my IJ--I just couldn't help it. :-P It's so beautiful and so relaxing. There are goals...*if* you choose to do them and/or when you choose to do them. But you can just swim and explore and take photos and enjoy the incredibly beautiful classical/New Age/Celtic music. OR pop in your own MP3s from an SD card!

More here in my IJ. (oh, I apologize: this is not shameless self-promotion...I am sooo tired, from staying up late and playing, that I can't think well. Heh! When a game makes you lose track of time, you know you're having a good time)

Just saw the community promo but the rules confuse me. Can I rant about and ask questions about games I'm not currently playing?

Like Castlevania 64 with the gears and the explosives...I could never ever ever beat that section. So frustrating.

I'm currently fiddling aroung with Vigilante 8. Blowing up orange trees is awesome.

Pokémon Emerald
So I picked up my game again while I was riding the bus back home (a 21 hour trip, I kid you not). I've gotten all eight badges and could probably go and say "y halo thar" to the Elite Four, but I probably shouldn't seeing as my highest leveled 'mon is currently at a not-so-impressive level 46. My Pokédex is looking pretty thin, too, and I have a lot of 'mons in my storage that could use some evolving. Right now I'm starting on the first one in my box, a Swablu, and just flipping through my Pokénav looking for fights (meanwhile, the 'mon in my first slot is wearing an Amulet Coin so I can get a lot of moolah off of this) while it sits pretty wearing an EXP Share. I probably chose a poor target in Swablu since it evolves at level 35, but I figure I can switch out whenever I get bored.

I also visited the Safari Zone and managed to catch myself a Wobbuffet, which, if I remember right, is also female. I know I can't breed it in Emerald, but I can trade it over to my Pearl game eventually and get a Wynaut.

And that... is progress!