The NEW Game Journal

[Raziel]

Dragon Warrior II. Have all the party members and just got a ship. Good oldschool RPG sailing time!

[Aeolus]

Legend of Mana had materials named after SD3 towns and statues of the SD3 guys in Geo. Those are pretty minor references.

Actually pretty much all of Geo that wasn't related to the Jumi arc or the school was an SD3 reference. But with that said; yeah, I was misremembering on that one. Its far more the case in Sword when both Begiu and Deathjester show up as random NPCs shoehorned into the plot for no meaningful reason beyond trying to force a direct link between SD1 and SD3.

[Yggdrasil]

Been watching a walkthrough of Mass Effect 3 for a while and it was ironic when Liara said "Shepard! Thank the goddess you're alive", with the voice actress of Liara being the same one that does Lightning (Ali Hillis) that line can be taken like a indirect dumb reference to XIII-2.

[Draak]

Finished my replay of Pokemon White a few weeks ago. Story was surprisingly well done and the characters were so likeable that it all reminded me of the Dragon Quest vignettes. A new director did wonders to the game.

So far White 2 is kinda meh, but then I liked the original White so much it'll be hard to top.

[MeshGearFox]

Took a break from modding Phantasy Star 2 to actually play games. Bowser's Inside Story is very charming.

[Aeolus]

Took a break from modding Phantasy Star 2 to actually play games. Bowser's Inside Story is very charming.

So are you designing dungeons for it that don't completely suck or are you just lowering the encounter rate to more sane levels?

[Monsoon]

Beat Rogue Galaxy earlier. Final set of bosses was... interesting, and kinda out of left field.  Still all kinds of silly plot holes and zero details about the lore in-game.  They refer to your whole party as "humans" quite often when it's five humans, a robot, a blue thing, and an anthropomorphic heavily-muscled Boxer dog.  I won't defend its plot or characters (although I think the designs themselves are appealing in general), but the combat was above-average, the skill, equipment, and loot implementation was excellent, and the variety and depth of sidequests is also excellent.  Not sure if I'm going to continue with optional crap, but it's a possibility.  Fun game, no regrets in playing it. 

Up next, not sure.  Valkyria Chronicles, Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana, Persona 4.  Those three rose to the top of my head first.  If none of my friends are up to anything by 9:30 or so, I'll spend my Saturday night starting up one of those.

[Esper_Crusader]

I was having fun with Forza:Horizon until my Xbox died with an apparent broken disc drive. I'm going to spend some time with the Halloween festivities on GW2 plus I got Dreamfall: Longest Journey off Steam today:). That should keep me entertained for a while.

[MeshGearFox]

yeah Mario and Luigi really reminds me of Valykrie Profile meets Big Sky Trooper. Oh and I LOVE the extent to which the animation provides characterization. Mario and Luigi never talk but they have /personality/ because of how they act.

(Big Sky Troopers is one of those things like elemental gimmick gear where I think it needs to get ported or remade so people actually play the damn thing).

[Monsoon]

Is BIS the first Mario & Luigi game you've played?  Because Superstar Saga made me into such a Luigi fan that it's a little bit ridiculous. 

[MeshGearFox]

Yeah, it is. Local store had a copy of SSS though; might have to go back and get it.

Reviews made Partners in Time sound considerably less interesting.

Not sure why I went on a Mario kick lately, but it's paid off.

[Monsoon]

Yeah, it is. Local store had a copy of SSS though; might have to go back and get it.

Reviews made Partners in Time sound considerably less interesting.

Not sure why I went on a Mario kick lately, but it's paid off.

Partners in Time is the weakest of the three; slightly unusual, because "the dark middle chapter" is more often than not the best part of any given trilogy.  It's far from bad, though, just not as good as the 1st or 3rd.  Best part is every time Mario yells "Bayyyybies!"

[MeshGearFox]

One complaint I heard about Partner's in Time was with the writing. Without having played it, I do wonder if there might've been translation issues.

With regards to Legend of Mana -- in my own life, it's an interesting thing to notice, the way my perception of reality and time gets more fluid as I lose track of the personal effects and artifacts I'd hung my memories around (and vice versa).

[Aeolus]

One complaint I heard about Partner's in Time was with the writing. Without having played it, I do wonder if there might've been translation issues.

With regards to Legend of Mana -- in my own life, it's an interesting thing to notice, the way my perception of reality and time gets more fluid as I lose track of the personal effects and artifacts I'd hung my memories around (and vice versa).

Unfortunately, it's not translation issues. PIT was built around the idea of having two sets of Mario Bros. which, while goofy, didn't really lend itself to a strong characterization or gameplay diversity. Moreover PIT's plot was mostly a rehash of the first M&L game's but with more focus on alien invasion tropes rather than on particular characters like Fawful or Bowser.

[GrimReality]

My hard drive for my 360 is dead. I went to install Wither 2 on it last night and it didn't even acknowledge that it was there. Anything I try and save to it gets corrupted. I had to move a clean profile to my memory stick, and am stuck playing the game without an install. For now.
I'll see if I can get a refurbished one for cheap.
I barely got to play the game last night. Just got through the tutorial and a little after that.
The menus are a little wonky so far. There's a lot more to this game than I was expecting. Alchemy and spells, and equipment, etc. I'll get used to it, though.
The story itself is very intriguing. Geralt is awesome.