The NEW Game Journal

[Annubis]

Sen Fortress is the worst thing ever.
I don't mind the game being hard and cheap... but damn, Sen's another thing.

Oh yeah, I'm gonna make you run on small walkway with harsh timing guillotines right and left knocking you off, doom-balls rolling and generally strong enemies... but HEY, I'm sure you'll love the bonfire AT THE COMPLETE END OF THE DUNGEON.

[Esper_Crusader]

Its funny that I actually beat FFVI without even knowing that espers were transferrable. I just put them on various characters as I acquired them.that shit took me months before beating it. It was my first RPG.:P

[Monsoon]

Stamina is almost worthless in FF VI.  It affects how much HP you gain under Regen status and how much health you lose under Poison status.  Might be a few other things as well, but basically it's not worth it at all.  Basically everyone should focus on either Strength or Magic until you hit certain break points.  And remember: Sabin's Blitz attacks use the Magic stat! 

Oh, and I played a bunch of Donkey Kong Country returns this weekend.  Currently early in the Volcano, zone 8.  I am DEFINITELY not going back to collect all the puzzle pieces and KONG letters.  I'd go crazy. 

[Aeolus]

^I thought as much.

FFVI. Vanish/X-Zone....done:P

Only for the SNES/PSX version.  They fixed that (and the magic block glitch, and the sketch glitch, and psycho Cyan, and Windgod Gau) for the GBA version.  Not sure which one Dice is playing. 

If they're talking about bonus dungeons, then it's most likely the GBA version. In which case you have even less to worry about in terms of screwage. Just remember to take the Ragnarok Esper instead of the Sword since you can steal more from Kefka.

If you're gunning for the Bonus Dungeons though, you might want to spend some time in the Colosseum farming for top tier equipment like Snow Mufflers for Mog and Gau, and either Genji, Force, or elemental equipment for those who are interested (though you will need to make use of Locke's steal to get the materials needed to get some of those items). As for Esper bonuses, Mag Pow. is still king, wait until either the endgame or level 50+ to start dicking around with the +50% HP (and even then you'll want to wait as close to level 50 as possible since HP gains per level are fixed and can only be modified by the respective Esper bonuses), and don't bother with the others as none of the good attacks/skills run off of attack (unless you're Gau or Cyan), Speed does almost nothing due to the way ATB gains per tick are calculated (if you gotta' go fast, use Haste), and I have no fucking clue as to what Stamina affects or how much it affects it (I think it affects how much health you lose through the Seizure status effect and in that case you want the stat to be lower). As for spell distribution, have at least three different people learn Life 3/Reraise, Ultima, Haste 2/Hastega, and the level 3 elemental trifecta, have at least 6 people (though preferably more) know Cure 3/Curaga, Life 2/Raiseaga, and Reflect, and have EVERYBODY learn Rasp and Osmose (believe me, you'll thank me for this one). Also consult a guide/map as the Bonus Dungeon is a squirrely piece of shit that demands that you follow a very precise order of events otherwise you will get stuck and need to back track through about 3 quarters of it (and its stupidly long and chock full of HP sacks).

This is an awesome sum up, thanks Aeo!!
And yeah, no idea what stamina is about, and I'll avoid speed boosts.  Not many espers really give magic boosts, but I'll definitely focus on that. 

Yeah, only ZoneSeek (Zona Seeker in FFVIA) from Jidoor's Auction House and Tritoch (Valigarmanda in FFVIA) from the Narshe Mines sport the +2 Mag Pow. boost. Though thankfully, Stray (Cait Sith in FFVIA), one of your starting Espers, comes with Mag Pow +1 as well as Maduin (Madeen in FFIX) a bit later on. You don't have to worry about avoiding Speed+ boosts as there's only one (two in the GBA version) and its stuck on Odin (and Cauctaur in the GBA version), the one Esper that can get replaced by another Esper (Raiden, who's sporting more Vigor/Strength growth). I also forgot to mention that the MP+ boosts are completely not worth it either since 999 isn't a hard cap to reach and the only conceivable reason why you'd bother to hit that is to maximize the amount of MP you can drain in one casting of Osmose (and that's totally not worth it either since you can only drain what you don't have, and between Economizers/Celestriads and Osmose/Soul Saber abuse you'll never be at risk of running out of MP; seriously, Osmose is fucking broken in this game, nothing with MP resists it aside from undead who reverses the drain as usual). And speaking of Economizers/Celestriads, don't bother getting more than whatever you may find since MP is seriously not hard to come by and there's at least one boss in the bonus dungeon that you can only kill through MP death (and like everything else in the Dragon's Den has way too many fucking Hit/Magic Points for you to slog through).

[GrimReality]

The Last of Us - I've played for 13 hours now, and am only at 47%. Pretty long game.
I'll tell ya, though, I am tired of sneaking around everywhere. My next game I just want to run around and beat the shit out of everything. The game is great, but MAN, I hate sneaking.

[Klutz64]

Now that I'm working on both Project X Zone and Resonance of Fate simultaneously, I can say without any hesitation that Vashyron is a total creep.

[Dice]

The Last of Us - I've played for 13 hours now, and am only at 47%. Pretty long game.
I'll tell ya, though, I am tired of sneaking around everywhere. My next game I just want to run around and beat the shit out of everything. The game is great, but MAN, I hate sneaking.

Nothing more liberating than a good run in that game.  If you're playing on easy mode you can be much more liberal with your use of items (ie; feel free to be a bit trigger happy and throw those molotov cocktails...)

[Wild Armor]

Now that I'm working on both Project X Zone and Resonance of Fate simultaneously, I can say without any hesitation that Vashyron is a total creep.

More or less. The statue transport and wine collecting missions sets that in stone. ;)

[(Tunnels)]

The Last of Us - I've played for 13 hours now, and am only at 47%. Pretty long game.
I'll tell ya, though, I am tired of sneaking around everywhere. My next game I just want to run around and beat the shit out of everything. The game is great, but MAN, I hate sneaking.

I know how you feel. For example, I normally try for stealth in AssCreed (even though I know you don't have to), but sometimes I just want to let off some steam and go piss off a group of patrolling soldiers and get my stab on.

[Lard]

I've been picking up my old game of Xenoblade while I've been home and I'm trying to finish it before I leave. Currently finishing up some sidequests at Mechonis Field.

[Monsoon]

Some of my friends got Torchlight II in the Steam Summer sale, so I started a new Engineer to play with them.  I've still only beaten the game with three classes, so I also rolled a new Outlander to try and get the Classist achievement. 

...That was about a week ago.  Right now the Engineer is at level 19, working on a support build centering on cannons, bots, and Force Field.  Really bare-bones.  Not sure what to do with my last 30 or so theoretical skill points.  I did some research before rolling the Outlander, and worked out a hybrid Glaive Throw build that has a little more survivability than the fastest-killing ones.  Focusing on skills that don't depend on %DPS (mostly Glaive Throw and Cursed Daggers) along with Stone Pact and some summons.  Awesome fun so far.  I have 10-15 theoretical points left over, which I'll use to pump up a few skills that I have penciled in at 5/15. 

[Dice]

The Last of Us - I've played for 13 hours now, and am only at 47%. Pretty long game.
I'll tell ya, though, I am tired of sneaking around everywhere. My next game I just want to run around and beat the shit out of everything. The game is great, but MAN, I hate sneaking.

I know how you feel. For example, I normally try for stealth in AssCreed (even though I know you don't have to), but sometimes I just want to let off some steam and go piss off a group of patrolling soldiers and get my stab on.

My missions always start stealth, and end up a blood bath.

[Aeolus]

Now that I'm working on both Project X Zone and Resonance of Fate simultaneously, I can say without any hesitation that Vashyron is a total creep.

More or less. The statue transport and wine collecting missions sets that in stone. ;)

And speaking of which....

Currently at chapter 23 where Ulala finally shows up and I have to transport a creepy statue by beating a boss sitting at the end of the tracks by turn 15. Given how much time 15 turns usually entails I'll have plenty of time to dogpile each of the other five bosses before going for the mission critical one. I just have to make sure not to let Zephyr and Leanne go down again (this game has one of the lamest gameover screen ever, they REALLY don't expect you to lose ever).

Also beat Code of Princess.

[Annubis]

My missions always start stealth, and end up a blood bath.

I made sure to kill everything in every scuffle except the last one.
I'm pretty sure they expect you to go stealth on the last 'battle'. It's just way too deadly if you get spotted.

[Jotacon]

Killing everything would be tough, but you can make it without stealth, you just have to gun it. In the first section I threw a brick, waited until the enemy was out of sight and ran. You WILL get spotted so I just kept running until the section right before you get to Elly since the enemies behind you despawn at that door. The next section was easier; I threw a Molotov killing the Soldier in front of the double doors, waited for the guys on the room to side to come up and tossed a smoke grenade into the hallway. I proceeded to toss the other two grenades, which covers the entire room in smoke and since baddies don't shoot in the smoke I proceeded to pipe and molotov every last one of them to death.

Then I burnt the two helpless doctors with a flamethrower. I'm not sure I played TLoU right.