The NEW Game Journal

[Desert Walker]

For the past several days I've been playing Demon's Souls.  At first I found myself caught in a rut grinding in Boeltaria (I actually restarted my game five hours in fearing that I'd simply spent too many souls trying to evenly level my character) but I restarted with a second Hunter and my progress has a been bit more steady since then.  I did have some problems due to my fear of going to another world (I'd previously tried the Stonefang Tunnel and had my ass handed to me by the mages in the beginning) and that combined with my inability to progress beyond the end of the dragon bridge or kill the red-eyed knight frustrated me, in particular since I found everything up through the Phalanx pretty easy.

Fortunately, an online guide suggested that I head to 4-1 and off I went.  The game immediately got very challenging and very fun.  My initial reaction to the blue-eyed skeletons was hilarious, in retrospect.  My thought pattern was something along the lines of "Okay, skeletons with big swords, they probably swing hard but move slo -- HOLY FUCK THEY MOVE LIKE NINJAS!"  Speaking of ninjas, the red-eyed skeletons with the twin swords oddly don't give me as much trouble as the red-eyed knight, though they will certainly lay down an ass kicking if not careful.  At this point in 4-1 I've explored killed the big grey demon, worked my way through most of area open to me (dying a few times in the process), explored some of the secret passages, found the merchant, and decided not to go up the ladder past the large demon after killing him.  I decided that I'd done enough and it was time to return home with a large quantity of souls for leveling.  By the way, the thief ring is awesome.

[Akanbe-]

Really considering buying Ys Origin on steam.  The good review helped, but I know the day I buy it, it'll go on sale the next day.

Also still really want to play Dust: An Elysian Tale.  Looks great for a 1 man job.

[Bytor]

Actually surprised how much fun I am having with LA Noire, also played hour or so of Asura's Wrath, not sure yet but I love the look of the game a lot!

[Yoda]

Yggdrasil, did you leave your PS3 on while playing UC3.... everytime I boot up you're chugging away :)

[Eusis]

Really considering buying Ys Origin on steam.  The good review helped, but I know the day I buy it, it'll go on sale the next day.

If you did it today you would probably be right. Tomorrow should be the Steam Summer Sale, and if it's not one of the daily deals it'll likely at least have something like 25% off.

[Yggdrasil]

Yggdrasil, did you leave your PS3 on while playing UC3.... everytime I boot up you're chugging away :)

Yeah, been stuck for days with UC3 in general. I'm having a lot of fun with it even if I still can get over the fact that UC2 is "the better game".

[Aeolus]

The environments are really beautiful in Xenoblade. Really encourages you to explore them. I just got through the marsh area with the glowing trees, loved the color scheme. Now in that cave with all the glowing green stuff, very cool.

Also has anyone ever completed all the side-quests in this game?? It seems almost impossible, I dont even try at this point or else I would get nowhere

Yeah, there are so many of em.  Some of em are worthwhile to do to level up your affinity with that particular town/faction.  Some towns need a level 4 or sometimes 5 affinity before quests to unlock new talent trees appear.  Pain in the ass, really.  Currently deciding if I want to go back to Colony 9 or not to level it up to 4 so I can get Shulk's.

Which quest net's you that? I've already got Colony 9's affinity up to 4 stars and I've seen nothing in regards to that.

Desiree's future.  Pre-req is Jackson's Awakening.  Shulk must be party leader.

Ah-ha. Then I guess I'll need to put Shulk out in front next time I play.

Required finishing up the Lantern quest but Shulk is now pessimistic as all get out (well okay, not really since he's still working for that Crafting Bonus) and Desiree's now in the army.

Code:

(Also, poor Desiree. I think I may have bumped into your father recently. I can tell because of the really large hammer that he carried, along with his handiness with machines.)

[Monsoon]

Decided to bust out a few older DS games and see where I was.  I forgot how BAD the DS was for online connectivity - some of its games won't recognize internet connections that use WPA keys.  

In other news Devil Survivor is pretty cool. 

[Fadedsun]

Theater Rhythm is an enjoyable game. I'm happy I had some credit on my gamestop card so I could get it for frees!

[Akanbe-]

Really considering buying Ys Origin on steam.  The good review helped, but I know the day I buy it, it'll go on sale the next day.

If you did it today you would probably be right. Tomorrow should be the Steam Summer Sale, and if it's not one of the daily deals it'll likely at least have something like 25% off.

Thanks.  I saw this post last night and decided to wait and when I looked after work today, it was like 11.99 or something.  Bought it, gonna hook up my PS3 controller tonight and give it a whirl.

[Yggdrasil]

Not related to what I'm playinng right now but I'm pretty bored of the whole "representation of women in video games" that I've seen so much lately. Pretty weird how so much people think that this is like, a new topic nobody has talked about it before...

[Eusis]

Not related to what I'm playinng right now but I'm pretty bored of the whole "representation of women in video games" that I've seen so much lately. Pretty weird how so much people think that this is like, a new topic nobody has talked about it before...

This is the kind of thing that could completely derail the thread. If you care enough to post about that find an appropriate thread or start one.

[Dice]

Really considering buying Ys Origin on steam.  The good review helped, but I know the day I buy it, it'll go on sale the next day.

If you did it today you would probably be right. Tomorrow should be the Steam Summer Sale, and if it's not one of the daily deals it'll likely at least have something like 25% off.

Thanks.  I saw this post last night and decided to wait and when I looked after work today, it was like 11.99 or something.  Bought it, gonna hook up my PS3 controller tonight and give it a whirl.

Oh MAN, excellent timing. xD

But, first I've heard about hooking up PS3 controllers... :O

[Akanbe-]

Really considering buying Ys Origin on steam.  The good review helped, but I know the day I buy it, it'll go on sale the next day.

If you did it today you would probably be right. Tomorrow should be the Steam Summer Sale, and if it's not one of the daily deals it'll likely at least have something like 25% off.

Thanks.  I saw this post last night and decided to wait and when I looked after work today, it was like 11.99 or something.  Bought it, gonna hook up my PS3 controller tonight and give it a whirl.

Oh MAN, excellent timing. xD

But, first I've heard about hooking up PS3 controllers... :O

Windows 7 recognized it immediately, but I had to download drivers from motioninjoy to make it work.

The game looks awesome and clean looking if you don't mind sprites.  After playing this for awhile, I think Trails in the Sky 2 would be pretty awesome on this since it happenin on the PSP seems really slim.

[Eusis]

The game looks awesome and clean looking if you don't mind sprites.  After playing this for awhile, I think Trails in the Sky 2 would be pretty awesome on this since it happenin on the PSP seems really slim.

The big reason I haven't replayed Trails in the Sky is because I'm hoping they get it on Steam sooner than later. I'm definitely expecting at least the first game to hit there, preferably within a few months. I DO imagine it'll take longer than the Ys games on account of having more text to insert and being a longer game to test.