Hey [%target] Whatcha Playin'?

[Mongrel]

Oh fuck that, I wanna play the fun boring character, not the boring boring character. I thought you had a choice - choices are fun!

Guess it's time to try and install PPSSPP. Do you lose much for playing the PSP port? The PSP screenshots actually seem to look very slightly nicer than the PS2 ones.

[Niku]

The PSP version lets you control all of your party members, Persona 4 style, rather than leaving them up to the AI outside of the main character (FES might have also had this over P3 vanilla, I forget now). The actual 3-D walking around parts of the game, outside of the dungeons, have been reduced to visual novel style maps and menus, but that mostly reduces the busy work of running wherever you want to go to do things. You also don't get the extra content from FES, but I hear that's garbage anyway, and you get the alternate female main character playthrough as compensation.

[Mongrel]

Poop, I actually like walking around. Oh well, that's relatively minor and the rest sounds fine. I originally picked up the FES, but yeah a couple people told me "Don't play that, it's like a bad fanfic ending tacked on."

[MarsDragon]

You only have the choice of guy, but it doesn't matter because the main characters are always the worst in persona games (with one exception).

Maya?

[beatbandito]

Of course.

[Mongrel]

This is the stupidest question, but I can't seem to google an answer and don't see any mention of it in FAQs etc.

What the hell does the green text + book icon in text boxes signify? Seems like it's plot-related or key-item-related stuff, but... what? I've tried pressing every button when seeing it and none of them take you to an expanded info screen or examine screen or anything like that.

[Cthulhu-chan]

Hyrule Warriors is pretty great, if you didn't already know.

[Brantly B.]

It may be relevant to point out that all the Persona games are on sale on PSN right now (again). Also Odin Sphere, which is more relevant to my interests.

[Mongrel]

Persona 3's wildly inconsistent attempts to keep the dialogue within the bounds of a G rating always amuse me, but never more so than when Junpei distills the whole glorious mess down to "Shit! We're in serious doo-doo!" :whoops:

[François]

Hyrule Warriors is pretty great, if you didn't already know.

Gonna have to second that, even if it's about as close to being a Zelda game as Dynasty Warriors is close to being an accurate representation of 2nd/3rd century Chinese politics. I've been playing a bunch of DW8 on PC lately so I was worried I'd have pre-emptively burned out on the whole thing but so far there's enough new and different to keep me entertained anyway.

[Mongrel]

Man, does anyone else hear the fhqwhgads song when the theme music for Tanaka's sunday home shopping show comes on?

[pacobird]

You get a month IIRC, but remember that Aigis's link opens up in that time, which is the most powerful vignette in the whole game and you'll definitely want to see if you haven't before.

I will never leave you. No matter how or when your life comes to an end, I will be at your side.

[Mongrel]

Yeah, I dunno how close competition will get for my time. It didn't help that after Ryoji tells you he's leaving that everyone mopes around for... well I don't know how long because I quit a few days afterwards. So I was staring at my time evaporating with no social links to advance. I might be okay if that December gap isn't too bad, but then there's an exam week too. Argh. I really feel like I'm being punished for not optimizing my play with a guide in the first half of the year, which is a shitty feeling.

[pacobird]

Yeah, I dunno how close competition will get for my time. It didn't help that after Ryoji tells you he's leaving that everyone mopes around for... well I don't know how long because I quit a few days afterwards. So I was staring at my time evaporating with no social links to advance. I might be okay if that December gap isn't too bad, but then there's an exam week too. Argh. I really feel like I'm being punished for not optimizing my play with a guide in the first half of the year, which is a shitty feeling.

Niku is 100% correct that you should feel no pressure to max social links in P3, especially on your first playthrough. Max social links is the game's replay value; NG+ carries over your personality stats so you don't have to waste time leveling them and you can access some of the more restrictive links earlier.

That said, you definitely want to do Aigis's; Chariot's good, and the Hermit denouement's pretty hilarious and hits a liiiiittle close to home. I remember liking Sun, too, but that's really restrictive so you might have missed it.

[Mothra]

Okay... just moved all the Valkyria Chronicles posts into their own topic. Cleaning up that topic now.

[Smiler]

I finally finished Bayonetta 1 so I can move on to 2. Oh my god I forgot why I ended up hating the game after I was done. The last few levels are just really fucking shitty. Up until then it was just really fucking frustrating, but when I hit chapter 15 I remembered. Bayo 2 seems pretty cool so far, but I've only played the prologue. It seems a whole lot more fluid than the first game.

[Spram]

Mario Kart 8 DLC just made Mario Kart 8 into the best Mario Kart yet.

I don't care much about Link (I would have liked him to be his Wind Wanker version instead) and Cat Peach (I want to do nasty things to her tail) and Racoon Mario (best horn) are actually more boring than getting new characters like Birdo and Falful. The new cars are neat enough. The tracks are mostly excellent.

Yoshi Circuit: Never was a big fan of the original, but I like this version. It's a perfect blend of realistic and Marioness. Lots of curves.
Excitebike: THe jumps are fun but it gets old quick. I still like it because of the music and general aesthetics.
Dragon Driftway: The most original and beautiful of the tracks. This one is excellent.
Mute City: Probably the best new track.
Wario's Gold Mine: The lighting and haze makes the whole level look even worse than the wii version. I liked the original but this one is kinda bland.
Rainbow Road SNES: Again? It's very similar to the MK7 version. I liked that one but it's too soon to bring it up again and it could have used more verticality or new gimmicks.
Ice Ice Outpost: The biggest surprise of the dlc pack. I didn't expect much from this track, but it's a lot of fun. All the braking glaciers remind me of dying polar bears and global warming though.
Hyrule Circuit: It's great, sure but it feels more like a generic medieval fantasy course than a Zelda course.. could use more variety in the scenery.

[Thad]

Every time they put in a course from the SNES or GBA games, I wonder why the fuck they wasted a slot on it instead of using a course from absolutely any other MK game.

The old courses are defined by their technical limitations in a way that makes them bland and boring. They're two-dimensional and lacking in variety and visual flair. I think you're right that Nintendo could make them fresh again by worrying less about making them faithful reproductions and more about making them actually fun. But the closest we've come to that is making Rainbow Road ripple up and down.

[Büge]

I want to play Neverwinter Nights again but I'm not sure it's worth my time to spend hours reinstalling and compiling updates.

[Classic]

There's still modules being released and updated for the damned thing.
Worst case, it'll kill some nostalgia.