The NEW Game Journal

[Darilon]

5 Hours into FF XIII-2. The story has great potential, the characters are likeable and great and SHIT THE GAMEPLAY ROCKS!
Im really digging the improvements and the monster collecting/leveling up thingy. It's much more fast paced, to the point and it has fantastic music aswell. Damn, Im really surprised.

I really liked the gameplay in XIII-2 but found the story in the first game a lot better. I agree with your opinion on the gameplay though. Thought it was a great improvement over XIII whose gameplay I also enjoyed. Can't really remember much of its music but I played it a long time ago. Overall I had a lot of fun with it. Didn't mind Chocolina at all, it was Mog and his voice that I found annoying. I thought XIII was a bit harder although that could be a combination of it being a new battle system to me and XIII-2 allowing me to play defensively against every boss unlike XIII.

[Holykael1]

5 Hours into FF XIII-2. The story has great potential, the characters are likeable and great and SHIT THE GAMEPLAY ROCKS!
Im really digging the improvements and the monster collecting/leveling up thingy. It's much more fast paced, to the point and it has fantastic music aswell. Damn, Im really surprised.

I really liked the gameplay in XIII-2 but found the story in the first game a lot better. I agree with your opinion on the gameplay though. Thought it was a great improvement over XIII whose gameplay I also enjoyed. Can't really remember much of its music but I played it a long time ago. Overall I had a lot of fun with it. Didn't mind Chocolina at all, it was Mog and his voice that I found annoying. I thought XIII was a bit harder although that could be a combination of it being a new battle system to me and XIII-2 allowing me to play defensively against every boss unlike XIII.

I dont think XIII-2 will surpass XIII storywise but it still seems to be pretty good from what I've seen so far. Gameplay is an improvement overall but it's also much easier.
EDit: Im also playing Last of Us, 9 hours in. Im liking it a lot, it's the first survival horror game I am enjoying, I was totally not expecting, I thought the game was going to be much more action oriented and not actually a horror game. Since the world is so grounded on reality, Im actually getting somewhat scared. I can't tune in to survival horror settings and immerse/lose myself in the world like I do with RPG's. I guess it must be a similar thing for people who think JRPG's are nonsensical trash.

[GrimReality]

Still playing Brothers: A tale of Two Sons.
A very simple game  with a lot to say. I've played it for maybe 5 hours now, and am not sure how much longer it will be. There's been some pretty dark moments, with the battlefield being particularly disturbing. It made me think of real world wars where the same type of thing happened, and I was sad as a result.
Hopefully, I'll finish it up this weekend.

[Holykael1]

Just beat The Last of Us. Fantastic game, dont have any major complaint with it. It's an exceptionally well made game. Great characters, great plot pacing and dialogue. The gameplay can be frustrating at times but it never got on my nerves to the point of being negative(I played on normal, Im never touching the higher difficulties though.) Maybe some fights had way too many dudes but  since it offered stealth/guns blazing/sniping/melee gameplay it was fine because fights were varied and had multiple approaches. I totally understand the hype.

[Monsoon]

Playing Dust: An Elysian Tail.  Just found the underground village.  I like most of the systems in place here (combat is a delight), but I wish that the maps were a little more... elaborate.  All of the pathways are big, bold, and simple, and I like seeing big castles and caves with winding tunnels and textured layouts.  I really like Dust AET and want more like it out there, but it's not quite scratching the itch like a really good 2D Metroid or Castlevania. 

[Ikusagami]

Just beat The Last of Us. Fantastic game, dont have any major complaint with it. It's an exceptionally well made game. Great characters, great plot pacing and dialogue. The gameplay can be frustrating at times but it never got on my nerves to the point of being negative(I played on normal, Im never touching the higher difficulties though.) Maybe some fights had way too many dudes but  since it offered stealth/guns blazing/sniping/melee gameplay it was fine because fights were varied and had multiple approaches. I totally understand the hype.

I loved the story, but thought the game itself was overrated.
In fact, my memory is ass, so I'll just copy my (relatively) old review from another forum,

The Last of Us.
I honestly don't know if I loved the game or hated it. It was absolutely fantastic, but some of its critical flaws were. . . critical. It often felt more like an interactive movie than a game, with an amazing faculty for player immersion. . . but then it would sodomize that immersion by throwing in ridiculously cheap insta-deaths just from certain enemies getting too close, often without even seeing them.
The game also promotes the use of stealth, but most areas have a limited applicability, because making a single mistake turns the entire thing into a shootout. . . which is bad, given the HORRIBLE aiming mechanic (who'da thunk it so easy to dodge bullets?) and the extreme shortage of ammo.
When the game was flowing along, it was great, and the story, if somewhat cliche (bunch of post apocalypse stories mashed together), was gripping and excellently delivered.
It just kept making me redo shit, which made it like an interactive movie that repeatedly skips--for up to a half hour--at certain scenes.

But on the topic, this review is hysterical:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tTsBn36yPrg

[Bytor]

Hmmm...so far that review sums up my thoughts, @5 hours into the game an while I love it I hate parts of it...

[Annubis]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tTsBn36yPrg

Ok, I just bursted laughing at "3rd person strangler".
(I played on hard...)

[Reta]

Sora no Kiseki the 3rd: I'm making preparations to take on the final dungeon. I need to fully outfit all 16 characters first, and I want to finish the optional dungeon, open all of the memory doors, and finish the harder arenas as well, since there's no coming back once I start the final dungeon.

I also need to decide how to split up my party... It's hard! I want to use everyone! This is one of the few RPGs I've played where every character is both well-developed and useful in battle.

[Yggdrasil]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tTsBn36yPrg

TLoU is all about its production values and story, the game portion is just serviceable and do its job.

The Winter scenario was incredibly well-executed (or rather presented) and the online multiplayer is fairly entertaining.

Best game of last year? Nope. It was a compelling experience worth seeing. That's different.

[Aeolus]

Sora no Kiseki the 3rd: I'm making preparations to take on the final dungeon. I need to fully outfit all 16 characters first, and I want to finish the optional dungeon, open all of the memory doors, and finish the harder arenas as well, since there's no coming back once I start the final dungeon.

I also need to decide how to split up my party... It's hard! I want to use everyone! This is one of the few RPGs I've played where every character is both well-developed and useful in battle.

Meanwhile I've been moonlighting the first game in between bouts of Bravely Default. Currently, also screwing around with the arena. At least the final party is laid out for you.

[Kevadu]

So after not touching KanColle for a couple weeks (since I was too busy traveling) I log in again to find that they added a new feature where you can marry one of your ship-girls.

I don't know about this game sometimes...

[Holykael1]

I really cant relate to the "interactive movie" bit but I agree with some of the gameplay frustrations. As far  as the stealth goes, if you fuck up there is no going back and that makes perfect sense. They also gave you tools to deal with people who attacked you from behind(those bucket bomb things were perfect for that).
90% of the game is gameplay, it has a few cutscenes few and far between and it also incorporates much of the story/dialogue naturally into the gameplay and exploration. An interactive movie would be something along the lines of Beyond Two Souls with very simplistic and minimalistic gameplay.

I dont think the aiming is bad and I appreciated the constant micro managing of the ammo and inventory, it was consistent with the plot and setting and it made battles very tense and thoughtful.

[Reta]

Sora no Kiseki the 3rd: I'm making preparations to take on the final dungeon. I need to fully outfit all 16 characters first, and I want to finish the optional dungeon, open all of the memory doors, and finish the harder arenas as well, since there's no coming back once I start the final dungeon.

I also need to decide how to split up my party... It's hard! I want to use everyone! This is one of the few RPGs I've played where every character is both well-developed and useful in battle.

Meanwhile I've been moonlighting the first game in between bouts of Bravely Default. Currently, also screwing around with the arena. At least the final party is laid out for you.

You'll definitely want to devote your full attrntion to the final chapter. How far are you? Also, how do you like Bravely Default? I haven't played it yet.

[Yggdrasil]

Need for Speed: Most Wanted:

Pretty damn good racing game by Criterion Games.

Couldn't get one trophy because it seems that it was connected to an app for smartphones that no longer works so I decided to let it go since I already completed everything else and I don't want to bother with the multiplayer nor with any of the DLC.

Assassin's Creed: Revelations:

Never touched any AC before and I decided to go with this one since I always had an interest in giving it a chance.

I ended up enjoy it way more that I thought I was gonna do at first. It sucked when I finished everything and got all the trophies since there was virtually nothing else for me to do other than removing the disc from the console.

Also didn't bother with the multiplayer nor with any of the DLC. However, I might end getting all the games in the future on PC since I liked this one a lot.

Now I guess I'll go for The Last of Us: Left Behind. 5.2GB man... *sigh* is gonna be a long wait with my connection. Hope it's worth it.