What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[Blinge]

Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade (GBA)
Damn that game is tough, tougher than every other Fire Emblem game i played so far.
But it is the same fun as ever.

I'm with you to an extent. Found Shadow Dragon as hard but it was my first FE, and doesn't have stuff like supports or rescuing units iirc.
Marth is a beast, though..

My issue with FE games is that I start to find them exhausting, probably because I spend so long on each chapter, The game encourages defensive play apart from some great moments in Binding Blade where being slow can harm you.
My own playstyle makes the slowness worse as I'm trying to level my gang equally so no one gets left behind. Trying to engineer ways for Pegasus girl to get a safe kill here and there is so damn finnicky. There's also the obsession with losing no units.
And good lord, someone take me away from arenas..

I had a cool moment where I pickpocketed the neutral thief's lockpicks so she couldn't beat me to treasures anymore
Do you bring Merlinus to every battle? I've been leaving him behind but I've had cause to regret it before.

[gbaplayer]

I´m in chapter 9 at the moment and did not bring Merlinus (he is the transporter right?) too often.
Should i? How can i train him, can he attack?

So far i´m happy that Dieck is in my team, he can kill those stupid bosses really easily with his critical hits.
Otherwise i would´nt stand a chance against Henning (what a stupid boss he was).
I also missed a few extra characters because i did not know how to recruit them and i also lost around 3-4 units in previous chapters.

[Immryr]

i'm playing OoT. i have started this game twice before i think, but got distracted just after meeting zelda both times. this time i'm going to make it through! currently in the forest temple feeling stupid as i can't find the third small key. it's an enjoyable game so far - probably one of those classic games that is going to have less of an impact on me playing it now as i've already played both wind waker and twilight princess which are basically just rehashes of this formula.

any one else noticed how the map for the trail to death mountain looks like an erect penis? i was laughing at that for a fair while, it looks almost exactly like the "muscle" flyer mac and charlie make to attract dudes to their party mansion in always sunny in philadelphia.

[lilmanjs]

Enthusia
Its got a good soundtrack, and other than that, its one of the harder sim racers out there. Just doing about anything wrong and you lose points. But man that soundtrack makes it worth playing and some of the tracks are fun.

[Mischief Maker]

Took the plunge and bought Ys Seven.

My first impression is the same thing I thought when I first played Oath, "Why aren't more games like Ys??!" I thought scavenging materials from gathering points could ruin Ys but no, it's over in the blink of an eye! And as much as I love Dragon's Dogma, instead of trying to wrangle my idiot AI party-mates in Ys I just switch over and start playing them Lost Vikings-style. And it's so fast! The combat, the travel, fastfastfast! Whee! Why aren't more games like YS?!!!

[BulletMagnet]

Y aren't more games like YS?!!!

Fixed.

[kaicooper]

playing the Masterpiece
Commandos Behind enemy lines mission 11 now

[wgogh]

playing the Masterpiece
Commandos Behind enemy lines mission 11 now

Took me a while to realise that its the Commandos I used to play. I remember being called "Beyond the Call of Duty", but it seems to just be the expansion name. Anyway, great scenary art. The game didnt aged at all. It is pretty hard, indeed, so congrats.

[kaicooper]

playing the Masterpiece
Commandos Behind enemy lines mission 11 now

Took me a while to realise that its the Commandos I used to play. I remember being called "Beyond the Call of Duty", but it seems to just be the expansion name. Anyway, great scenary art. The game didnt aged at all. It is pretty hard, indeed, so congrats.

yea Beyond the Call of Duty is the expansion for 1st Commandos (witch im playing now)
graphics..gameplay..everything is great ..

[Durandal]

Took the plunge and bought Ys Seven.

My first impression is the same thing I thought when I first played Oath, "Why aren't more games like Ys??!" I thought scavenging materials from gathering points could ruin Ys but no, it's over in the blink of an eye! And as much as I love Dragon's Dogma, instead of trying to wrangle my idiot AI party-mates in Ys I just switch over and start playing them Lost Vikings-style. And it's so fast! The combat, the travel, fastfastfast! Whee! Why aren't more games like YS?!!!

The best thing is that even though Ys Seven has more cutscenes and dialogue than it really ought to, you can literally fast forward through them with 16x speed if you hold down the action button. Arigato, Falcom.

[soprano1]

Yeah, glad they did the same on Cold Steel. Very useful in battle to skip animations you have already seen.

[Sumez]

I love how almost every off-topic thread on this forum occasionally has discussions about the Ys series. If that's not a testament to how deserving of love that series is, I don't know what is.

[soprano1]

I love how almost every off-topic thread on this forum occasionally has discussions about the Ys series. If that's not a testament to how deserving of love that series is, I don't know what is.

Ditto.

[Blinge]

I love how almost every off-topic thread on this forum occasionally has discussions about the Ys series. If that's not a testament to how deserving of love that series is, I don't know what is.

3 ygw medals to the first person who works it into the trump thread.

[Mischief Maker]

I love how almost every off-topic thread on this forum occasionally has discussions about the Ys series. If that's not a testament to how deserving of love that series is, I don't know what is.

3 ygw medals to the first person who works it into the trump thread.

You're like a guy who pours a drink for a recovering alcoholic, you evil, evil man!

[Mischief Maker]

Speaking of Ys Seven, someone at Falcom fucked up. I was getting my ass handed to me over and over by a boss when I said uncle and checked an old gamefaqs thread for tips only to discover that there's a (2-button) block maneuver in this game that nobody mentioned in the tutorial. I guess you're supposed to find out from the manual, but the gog version doesn't include the manual.

Now I've gotta start all over again. Thank god for the cutscene fast forward feature!

[null1024]

I got to the final boss of Ys Seven on PSP before discovering that you could block.

[professor ganson]

Disgaea 5 (Switch) - very nice looking and pretty fun so far

[BulletMagnet]

3 ygw medals to the first person who works it into the trump thread.

Dogi: I'm gonna smash through this wall and make Mexico pay for the repairs!

[Durandal]

I got to the final boss of Ys Seven on PSP before discovering that you could block.

Same thing here, it's kind of odd that the real difficulty spike is only presented with the final boss (if I only I knew I had to put more effort into leveling and gearing up ALL my party members beforehand) after which people look to the internet for help. Up until then it was dodgeroll city. But it made my second playthrough more fun nonetheless.

[CIT]

Speaking of Ys Seven, someone at Falcom fucked up. I was getting my ass handed to me over and over by a boss when I said uncle and checked an old gamefaqs thread for tips only to discover that there's a (2-button) block maneuver in this game that nobody mentioned in the tutorial. I guess you're supposed to find out from the manual, but the gog version doesn't include the manual.

Now I've gotta start all over again. Thank god for the cutscene fast forward feature!

The fast-forward is coming in real handy in Tokyo Xanadu. They talk sooooo daaaaamn much!!

But I don't get why you have to restart Ys Seven now? As in all Ys games, just gain a level or two and the boss should be totally beatable.

[Immryr]

that's actually the only/main problem i had with oath in felgana when i played it. it feels like there are fairly hard cutoffs for what level you should be when fighting a certain boss. you can be fighting one and doing next to no damage and the fight becomes a tedious grind, go away and gain one or two levels and suddenly you do great damage and the fight is fairly easy.

[Sumez]

Maybe it's because I was playing on hard mode, but I recall most boss fights in Felghana being a fairly solid challenge, while I don't recall any being particularly unbeatable. I think there was one where I felt like I had to gain a level or two for it to be manageable to me, though.

What you're saying describes most earlier Ys games quite well, though

[Immryr]

yeah i figured it was a staple for the series. i find it a bit of a weird design choice really.

-edit- i should clarify i'm not saying the fights were suddenly pointlessly easy after gaining one or two levels, rather that they went from being tedious as i was doing next to no damage to being a normal fight. like going from using the broken straight sword in dark souls to having a normal weapon, or something.

[FinalBaton]

There is indeed a hard treshold In Napishtim and Felghana where reaching a certain level will make bosses' defense plummet, whereas one level less and their defense is rock solid. But I don't mind it too much, at least it gives a tangible reward for the level-grinding!

(Note that I have only played these games on NORMAL difficulty)

[Mischief Maker]

But I don't get why you have to restart Ys Seven now?

To practice up my skills against the forgiving early enemies! I wasn't that far into the game.

And to experience the boss fights like they were meant to be fought. The turtle was an excessive slog when I was just using slash and dash but with block thrown into the mix it didn't overstay its welcome. And more importantly, I was spared the humiliation of having to use a healing item!

[FinalBaton]

MM, it's about time you experienced the Ys series for yourself
What took you so long? hehe

[Mischief Maker]

What took you so long? hehe

As soon as they show up on GOG I snatch them up.

Please tell me by Ys VIII they realized it's dumb to have block require TWO buttons when one of the buttons serves no other purpose.

[FinalBaton]

As soon as they show up on GOG I snatch them up.

Please tell me by Ys VIII they realized it's dumb to have block require TWO buttons when one of the buttons serves no other purpose.

They realized it one game earlier than that; on Memories of Celceta

[Chaos Phoenixma]

Still mainly Necrodancer.

Got my first clear of Aria yesterday as well as 10 consecutive Cadence wins. I did the Aria clear in All Chars because I figured I would hope to not screw up another character after, but I died in the next run(Bolt). My Bolt and Monk could still use more training though, same for Aria since I still miss beats a lot.

My current plan for All Chars is Aria, Bolt, Monk, Dove, Tempo, Mary, Dorian, then just some random order after that then finish with Bard. Most of the other characters past Dorian aren't actually difficult unless you're trying to speedrun them or do the extra modes.