The NEW Game Journal

[kyuusei]

I know what you mean.

I'm switching between ME2, Arkham City and Dishonored depending on my mood/annoyance level. I'm going to try and play ME2 and ME3 this month and finish the trilogy. I really want to see just how "bad" this ending is.

Download the extended cut. It doesn't take all the bad away and still leaves/creates questions, but a lot easier to stomach than the original ending.

I'm also trying to juggle Dishonored and eventually play through all the Fire Emblem: Awakening DLC. And talk someone into Saints Row 3 co-op with me. I can't settle down when it comes to games.

[Lard]

Okay, got a question about ME3 then.

If I update it when I first install the game, will it wipe the original ending, or is that more of a continuation?

Am I better off updating it at the first install, or after I've finished the "original" ending?

[kyuusei]

It doesn't change the ending. It adds dialogue and scenes and whatnot to what's already there. You'd be fine to just install the extended cut right away unless you're that curious about the original.

[Wild Armor]

Started playing Dragon Warrior Monsters last week. Played it a bunch when I was a kid, so it brings back pleasant memories. <3

[Lard]

It doesn't change the ending. It adds dialogue and scenes and whatnot to what's already there. You'd be fine to just install the extended cut right away unless you're that curious about the original.

That's what I wanted to know, thanks.

[Klutz64]

Started playing Xenoblade Chronicles again. The first time I attempted, I only got to the refugee camp on the Bionis' Knee before getting distracted by other things. I'm glad I decided to start over, though. I ended up missing a bunch of quests after the incident at Colony 9, and didn't even know about the "prevent this future" quests. Some of those present some really interesting dilemmas. I still haven't decided who to give the Tephra Drop to.

[Monsoon]

More Skyrim.  More meters rising.  Mostly Conjuration, Illusion, Enchanting, and Archery.  I should probably eat some dinner. 

[MeshGearFox]

Going to attempt to play Dawn of Ys. Wish me luck. Actually having a legit copy of the game should vastly simplify the process.

--- edit ---

Yey, it works. Time to go bump into some dudes.

Oh, also did the third? mission in Lost Kingdoms and died at the boss from running out of summon crystals. In a shocking twist of fairness, you keep all the stuff you got in the levels if you die -- you just have to go back and flip all the switches. So backtracking isn't tedious at all.

--- edit 2 ---

Some cool things about Dawn of Ys:

1. You briefly start out with the best equipment in the game, which means you gain like a level or two for free during the intro bit, alleviating a lot of early game grind.

2. Controls are a lot better than in Mask of the Sun.

3. This feels like a DOS game. Sooooo nostalgic.

--- edit 3 ---

1. up to the fire pit in DoY.
2. Aquaria - Up to the abandoned city.
3. I briefly played CC because I wanna try out that difficulty mod I found but then I remembered that CC isn't short and I ain't got time for that. Nostalgia's a bitch.

[Lard]

I finished ME2 last night.

Yeah. I really felt underwhelmed by it compared to ME1.

1) Inconsistent logic. I played my Shepard as a Paragon, so it made no sense to me that I would join Cerberus. I could see it if I had played renegade, but I didn't. So the entire premise felt like a contradiction to how my character would act.

Liara switches from being a somewhat timid archaeologist/scientist to a bad ass gangster/information collector.

Joker making a comment about almost breaking his thumb on a joystick or something early in the game. Then at the end of the game, you see him standing there shooting a giant rifle that would probably shatter his fucking arms with the recoil. It's a little thing, but to me it just felt like they weren't paying attention to their own world's rules. But made for a good cut scene though!

Wrex's story was the only one I felt made sense in the context of the larger story.

Which brings me to

2) Dumbing down - The rpg "mechanics", as they were, were non-existent. I won't say they felt slapped together, but they did feel like an afterthought. It really felt like an attempt to pander to the shooter crowd.

3) It's the first full sequel I've ever played that felt like a gaiden. The entire story felt like an excuse to just start you over from the beginning and gather a crew. That and simply a set up for ME3.

Overall, it felt like a huge missed opportunity. Sequels are supposed to build and improve on what came before, and this just didn't.

I put in about an hour of ME3 last night - I got to Mars and met Liara. It was nice to see more RPG like mechanics come back, but again, that story logic isn't there.

What is Anderson doing on Earth if he's the Ambassador to the Citadel? No explanation given.
Shepard stops the Collectors from taking colonists ..... and they reward him by grounding him and giving him a desk job when they know the Reapers are supposed to be coming?

I don't usually let game logic bug me, but things in ME just seem to jump out and scream "THIS IS DUMB".

[Ranadiel]

What is Anderson doing on Earth if he's the Ambassador to the Citadel? No explanation given. 

Oh! Explanation is given (in a novel).

Code:

He reigns his post on the Citadel (whatever it is) to go and hunt down Cerberus resulting in him delivering a crippling blow to Cerberus with assistance from the Turians.....mind you I think the canon version is that him and the Turians just went out for Pizza rather than hunting down Cerberus, but hey there is an explanation of some minor sorts. >.>

[Aeolus]

What is Anderson doing on Earth if he's the Ambassador to the Citadel? No explanation given. 

Oh! Explanation is given (in a novel).

Code:

He reigns his post on the Citadel (whatever it is) to go and hunt down Cerberus resulting in him delivering a crippling blow to Cerberus with assistance from the Turians.....mind you I think the canon version is that him and the Turians just went out for Pizza rather than hunting down Cerberus, but hey there is an explanation of some minor sorts. >.>

Another reason why expanded universes suck. Its very hard to keep things even remotely consistent with each other when other people start taking things in directions that you don't want them to go into.


That said, I've decided on starting a Lunatic Classic run through of FE:Awakening. Made it up to chapter 5 right now but the gimmicks I've got running are probably going to require some grinding since its hard to Iron Man without supports, characters that can take a hit, boosts from the barracks, and a Chrom with Defense (the gist of my gimmick is to only use DLC characters and Chrom who is required by plot to attend every battle). Given the costs of trying to maintain the team I've got now (without throwing all my DLC chars into the thresher) the numbers are not looking pretty (I've already lost Eirika on chapter 4 and Est is my best unit not named Chrom right now, and she's suffering from the double-wammy of both flying and beast weaknesses).

[Annubis]

What is Anderson doing on Earth if he's the Ambassador to the Citadel? No explanation given.

Prologue: http://i.imgur.com/AELwf.jpg
Ch 01: http://i.imgur.com/Ng7oJ.jpg
Ch 02: http://i.imgur.com/NPlYL.jpg
Ch 03a: http://i.imgur.com/iKqe2.jpg
Ch 03b: http://i.imgur.com/gt0NY.jpg
Ch 04: http://i.imgur.com/e8JZC.jpg
Ch 05: http://i.imgur.com/qsZCx.jpg
Ch 06: http://i.imgur.com/Q0va5.jpg
Ch 07: http://i.imgur.com/xSyRb.jpg
Ch 08: http://i.imgur.com/FwSGA.jpg
Ch 09: http://i.imgur.com/0fNJS.jpg
Ch 10: http://i.imgur.com/56b8n.jpg
Ch 11.1: http://i.imgur.com/2Cor3.jpg
Ch 11.2: http://i.imgur.com/847kR.jpg
Ch 12: http://i.imgur.com/yGMt2.jpg
Ch 13: http://i.imgur.com/Ycmcs.jpg
Ch 14: http://i.imgur.com/TYtFw.jpg
Ch 15: http://i.imgur.com/kcJh8.jpg
Ch 16: http://i.imgur.com/0ClZT.jpg

[Aeolus]

Update on my Ironman DLC Lunatic Classic Awakening clusterfuck:

So apparently, right after making that post I got stupidly lucky and procced two Anna's, both of whom were selling Master Seals (and some other stuff like a Wyrmslayer and an Elfire tome) so now I have both Chrom and Est promoted to Great Lord and Falcon Knight respectfully as of the completion of chapter 6. Chapter 5 saw the ends of Edward and Wolt, both of whom were kinda crappy, Champions of Yore 1 saw the end of Mist who was incredibly useless (and the recruitment of new artwork Marth, who's still turning out all right, he just needs a few levels for his Aptitude skill to kick in), and a random skirmish saw the unfortunate end of Norne, and I lost nobody in chapter 6. I'm still rocking Amelia (she and Chrom still make a great team for now) and Florina (who I can promote or reclass as soon as I obtain a new Master Seal or I need a Thief) as well as Dierdre and Nanna and all the rest. My biggest concern was a mistake I made back in chapter 5 where I had either Florina or Est trade Amelia from Chrom for the extra defense boost and left him with Maribelle (I'll find out in a couple of chapters on whether that screwed me over or not).

As for the unfortunate grinding I've had to do. I've made....
-One run through Champions of Yore 1.
-Two runs through Golden Gaffe.
-One run through Exponential Experience.
-One skirmish battle.

But again, I'm taking whatever outcome occurs in my run through as long as I don't lose Chrom for an instant game over.

[Lard]

What is Anderson doing on Earth if he's the Ambassador to the Citadel? No explanation given.

Prologue: http://i.imgur.com/AELwf.jpg

Thanks for letting me know about that. That cartoon was pretty funny.

And yeah.....I'm all for expanded universe stuff, but it would be nice if they just threw in even one line of dialogue to get the game and the book to gel.

Actually, to be fair, I checked the codex and there is a mention of it. It just seemed like I missed something at the beginning of the game.

Also, Edi's body is ridonkulous. She's in a fucking *bathing suit*.

[dalucifer0]

In Devil Survivor, I finally beat the boss on Day 6. I spent roughly an hour grinding so that I could fuse stronger demons (and by doing so, I have ended up with quite a few demons with 34-37 magic) and to gain enough money to make sure my backup demons were strong. I'm assuming on Day 7 I'll probably have to do twice as much grinding for demons and money since it's the final day of the game.

I don't know if it's just me, but whenever I find a strategy that works to defeat the boss, the strategy doesn't mean shit if my party is as weak as shit, so I always have to end up grinding a little bit just so I can stay alive long enough.