A Game Journal Reborn

[Monsoon]

I caved in and bought a 3DS yesterday afternoon.  The library had gotten too strong; I could name more than ten games I wanted to play, which is plenty.  Found a weekend Best Buy deal for This model 3DS, which comes with Mario & Luigi: Dream Team automatically downloaded.  It has a 30th Anniversary - Year of Luigi emblem on the bottom, heh.  I also took advantage of a buy-1-get-1-free deal to pick up The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and Kirby Triple Deluxe.  They were most definitely trying to clear out 2013 inventory with this sale, and I was happy to take advantage.  THEN, apparently I wasn't done because I ordered a copy of Bravely Default for $30 online that same afternoon.  

Total haul: silver M&L 3DS XL + four games = $245.  Not bad.  I can keep eating well most nights with that.  Mario & Luigi is pretty solid so far.  The dream-platforming is silly/fun and the combat is just as good as the first three games.  I *love* the Luiginary moves.  Dreamy Luigi is the best.  

[Holykael1]

9 hours into Digital Devil Saga.
This game has an awesome atmosphere and a great soundtrack. At first I wasn't enjoying the mantra progression system because it felt too loose and "overwhelming" but once money restrictions started happening I found it easier to handle and a bit more focused, it also helps that I was able to ascertain what skills I was going to be needing the most by actually fighting.

Story is intriguing enough. The characters haven't captivated me yet, they feel pretty robotic so far but their aesthetic meshes really well with the feel of the game, I like them but they are a bit weird.

I'm currently going back to my base after

Code:

Sera was kidnapped by the Solids

[Starmongoose]

The characters really come alive as the story goes on.

[Holykael1]

The characters really come alive as the story goes on.

Great :P

[Ranadiel]

So a bit further into Dawn of the New World. Oh my god this game sucks. Emil still is a horrible character. Marta is a one note joke that lost its humor a while ago. I've apparently hatched two Centurion's who aren't going to make any appearance or impact. Raine feels completely out of character. The fact that the game is continually harping on Emil's hatred for Lloyd just makes me like him less. About the only good thing I can think to say about the game is that I like Marta's character design.

[Aeolus]

About the only good thing I can think to say about the game is that I like Marta's character design.

Really? I thought she looked incredibly bland and generic. Like maybe by Tales of standards, she's better than some of the other female leads, but that's seriously not saying a lot.

[Annubis]

So a bit further into Dawn of the New World. Oh my god this game sucks. Emil still is a horrible character. Marta is a one note joke that lost its humor a while ago. I've apparently hatched two Centurion's who aren't going to make any appearance or impact. Raine feels completely out of character. The fact that the game is continually harping on Emil's hatred for Lloyd just makes me like him less. About the only good thing I can think to say about the game is that I like Marta's character design.

I bought Chronicles too thinking probably like you that I'd like to play this to see what the whole brouhaha was about.
Reading your 'as you play' review makes me not even want to try it myself now. Everything sounds really bad.
It reminds me of Gundam SEED Destiny in the sense that they made a sequel where the new lead is a prick who just keeps on badmouthing the old lead you know and like.

[Tomara]

The best thing about Dawn of the New World is the small Tenebrae plush that came with my review copy (Namco Bandai's attempt at bribery?). Supposedly it's very rare (can't even find a picture of it online) and it makes Tales fans jealous. It. Is. Awesome.

What's not so awesome, is the fact that Millennium: A New Hope has so many missable items. Yes, please do make the only key that can open locked doors available for only a short window of time in a hidden store, players will love that!

[Klutz64]

Been playing a lot of 3DS lately. Finally got around to starting Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask. I was told the control system was very different from previous games, so I was glad to see that was a bit of an exaggeration. Just made it to the first "Past" section. So far my favorite mini-game is the Shop. Even with just the first two puzzles I can already see the aisles getting very complicated very quickly.

Also, with Shinovi Versus coming in the fall, I've been binge playing some Senran Kagura Burst to try and finish it by then. Katsuragi FTW!

[EmeraldSword]

Woo hoo beat Lightning Returns last night. I have mixed feelings about putting the FFXIII trilogy behind me now. All in all, I enjoyed the series despite some frustrations I experienced along the ride. I was thinking about doing a new game+ to get some of the quests I missed through my first playthrough, but I feel like moving on to something new. Anyone here played the new One Piece Unlimited World 3DS game? I've never watched the anime, but the gameplay style looks fun and it reminded me of Ni No Kuni which I loved.

Oh, and congrats Monsoon on your new 3DS. It looks like you have a ton of new titles to play already. You can hit me up on the StreetPass for the summoning a friend benefit if you get in a bind later. Have fun!

[Aeolus]

So a bit further into Dawn of the New World. Oh my god this game sucks. Emil still is a horrible character. Marta is a one note joke that lost its humor a while ago. I've apparently hatched two Centurion's who aren't going to make any appearance or impact. Raine feels completely out of character. The fact that the game is continually harping on Emil's hatred for Lloyd just makes me like him less. About the only good thing I can think to say about the game is that I like Marta's character design.

I bought Chronicles too thinking probably like you that I'd like to play this to see what the whole brouhaha was about.
Reading your 'as you play' review makes me not even want to try it myself now. Everything sounds really bad.
It reminds me of Gundam SEED Destiny in the sense that they made a sequel where the new lead is a prick who just keeps on badmouthing the old lead you know and like.

SEED Destiny's biggest problem (not even the only one, mind you) wasn't the new lead's beef with the old guy's solution to just beamspam everything until the problem goes away, the problem was the old guy's response to new guy's beef was to stealth protagonist the new guy's ass straight onto team evil then beamspam everything until the problem goes away again.

DotNW's problem is that it tried to be the SEED Destiny to Symphonia 1's SEED which was a fucking stupid idea because SEED Destiny was really fucking stupid to begin with. Although, Symphonia 1's plot being a relatively confusing and aimless clusterfuck to begin with didn't really help matters either.

[Maxximum]

Making my way through Chaos on Deponia, just started on the second act. I'll say this much, has a lot more dark humor than the first one as well as some 4th wall breaking. It's just as good as the first one though, if not better.

About to start making my way through F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate. Got the main game and both its expansions in a humble, so may as well play through them all. For a game I find mostly unremarkable, I do seem to play a lot of it.

[Der Jermeister]

Finally beat Bravely Default. I didn't like the repeated boss fights late in the game and the difficulty spike with the final bosses (took me a few tries to beat the penultimate boss, although I beat the actual final boss my first try), and the story's a bit generic, but I was overall satisfied with the game.

[Starmongoose]

Hearthstone Naxxramas (or however its spelt) is out, but i can't play it. T_T Servers overloaded.

[Lard]

I finished LA Noire last night.

I liked it overall, although I thought the ending was a little flat.

It's interesting to see a GTA style game with most of the fat trimmed out.

I guess really it was more like an adventure game than a GTA game, but I still enjoyed it.