My top 10 DS games

[BulletMagnet]

Kinda like scoring in a shump, you have to know what's going on before you can get the full mileage out of the game. This is one of the kinds of games where buying the official strategy guide may be helpful, just to look at enemy weaknesses and whatnot.

I have to disagree on this point: I played through Nocturne "cold turkey", with no prior SMT knowledge and without using FAQs or any other such stuff, and found that figuring out what was going on little by little was a sizable part of the fun. Exploring the areas, getting hints from NPCs, messing around with fusion...the game tells you almost everything you need to know, but you have to coax it out of it, and for me that aspect made the experience memorable.

That's just me, though, so if this doesn't sound like your likely take on things feel free to disregard it, but I had to throw that out there just in case.

[lift]

Shin Megami Tensei games in general have a lot of sidequests, items, fusions and secrets that are easy to miss in your first playthrough.

Blind playthroughs are great, though. I only pulled out a strategy guide in my NG+ playthrough of SJ, because I didn't want to prance around Eridanus falling into pits and being teleported to god knows where. Figuring those puzzles out and toppling Ouroboros in my first playthrough with no outside help was especially rewarding.

[greg]

If the developers didn't want their crappy games to draw comparisons to the original Final Fantasy Tactics, guess what? They shouldn't have named their crappy games "Final Fantasy Tactics!" But then, if they more accurately named their games "Final Fantasy: Furry Brawl" they wouldn't have sold as well, would they? They certainly wouldn't have gotten my $30 and the $30 of countless other people who made the foolish mistake of thinking that their awful game would be Final Fantasy Tactics, only portable, would they?

So I take it you're the one who wrote that article? I haven't played any of the FF Tactics game, but I own them, and I already realize that they are completely different games. Heck, every Final Fantasy game is different. 1-7 were great, but 8 sucked and pretty much all of them since then too. I can't get mad at Squaresoft for continuing to call the games "Final Fantasy" because I love FF6 so much. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance is a strategy/tactics game. It's just a different style. Perhaps you should get mad if it was called "Final Fantasy Tactics 2."

[MR_Soren]

Look, I'm sure that if you analyzed the entire script, you'd determine that only 25% of the dialogue revolves around rape and incest. So yeah, I'm sure your flawless computerized brain can't fathom why a Hu-Man like me would put so much emphasis on the teeny little bit of rape and incest going on in this game.

Nowhere close to 25% of the plot is about rape, and the game contains no incest, but perhaps this game's plot is too mature for you to be reviewing. Everything isn't Disney pirates where they only kidnap women so they can sing together.

But hey, if Rape rolls off you like water off a duck's back and you're just in it for the gameplay... then I still can't recommend Infinite Space. The gameplay sucks.

Yeah, we read your blog. I disagree with you. I was merely alerting another forum member that your opinion is not universal. The combat systems are a bit simple, but they are manifestations of your combat preparation which is where the gameplay lies.

I played through Nocturne "cold turkey", with no prior SMT knowledge and without using FAQs or any other such stuff, and found that figuring out what was going on little by little was a sizable part of the fun. Exploring the areas, getting hints from NPCs, messing around with fusion...the game tells you almost everything you need to know, but you have to coax it out of it, and for me that aspect made the experience memorable.

That's also how I played Nocturne, and I think I would have enjoyed the game far less if I used a guide. I also think players are harming the development of their problem-solving skills by using guides for everything.

[MX7]

About halfway through 9 Doors, 9 Persons, 9 Hours. Chugging great so far. Definitely recommended to visual novel/ point and click fans.

[CMoon]

Put 5 hours into Radiant Historia over the last couple days and loving it.

[BulletMagnet]

'Bout time you finally took a break from all those dungeon crawlers, I think you'll continue liking this one as you go along.

[CMoon]

'Bout time you finally took a break from all those dungeon crawlers, I think you'll continue liking this one as you go along.

Ha! Actually taking a break from Red Dead Redemption. But yes, Radiant Historia seems REALLY NICE.

[Sumez]

Think I'm near done with the main story of The World Ends With You, and it keeps getting better (actually, it starts out as a really poor game, but right now I'm loving it)

I'm expecting a buttload of endgame grinding in this game, which is a problem since I have a queue of at least 8 other DS games I still need to play.

[chempop]

I haven't played much on DS but what games I did play I thought were outstanding.

-meteos
-feel the magic
-band brothers
-elite beat agents
-trauma center
-trace memory
-hotel dusk
-the world ends with you

Sounds like I need to check out Last Window and 999, any other recs based on my list would be great.

[RNGmaster]

I have to disagree on this point: I played through Nocturne "cold turkey", with no prior SMT knowledge and without using FAQs or any other such stuff, and found that figuring out what was going on little by little was a sizable part of the fun. Exploring the areas, getting hints from NPCs, messing around with fusion...the game tells you almost everything you need to know, but you have to coax it out of it, and for me that aspect made the experience memorable.

That's just me, though, so if this doesn't sound like your likely take on things feel free to disregard it, but I had to throw that out there just in case.

Yeah, blind playthroughs are generally better, but if you like munchkining via fusion as much as I do, a fusion chart at the very least is helpful (used one to fuse an absolutely ridiculous Daisoujou).

[BulletMagnet]

Yeah, blind playthroughs are generally better, but if you like munchkining via fusion as much as I do, a fusion chart at the very least is helpful (used one to fuse an absolutely ridiculous Daisoujou).

Heh, I did actually have to hand-write some of the results of my fusions to attempt to make sense of it all, though again, for me that was part of the fun (which is a bit strange, as I usually hate making maps and other such stuff, I much prefer it done automatically). I probably still have that scratch paper laying around someplace...

[Blackbird]

Lots of people love The World Ends With You, but I couldn't get into it. It seemed really hard to wrap my head around playing a rhythm game on one screen and playing touch screen shenanigans on the other =P. Maybe I'm doing it wrong.

[iconoclast]

Lots of people love The World Ends With You, but I couldn't get into it.

Same. It's a shame too, because I like everything about TWEWY except for the actual gameplay. I should force myself to finish it to see if it ever clicks with me.

[RNGmaster]

Yeah, blind playthroughs are generally better, but if you like munchkining via fusion as much as I do, a fusion chart at the very least is helpful (used one to fuse an absolutely ridiculous Daisoujou).

Heh, I did actually have to hand-write some of the results of my fusions to attempt to make sense of it all, though again, for me that was part of the fun (which is a bit strange, as I usually hate making maps and other such stuff, I much prefer it done automatically). I probably still have that scratch paper laying around someplace...

I filled 3 large post-its with text on my way to fusing Daisoujou (all natural skills plus Makatora, Makakaja and Rakukaja) and ended up scrapping most of them due to inheritance issues. Making fusion charts was really fun in some perverse way, yeah.

Hand-drawing maps for the invisible wall section in Amala was also great.

[TLB]

DS blows.

Lufia
Advance Wars: Days of awesome fucking music
Castlevania: Dawn
Bangai-O Spirits
Contra 4
Commando: Steel Disaster
Tetris DS (multiplayer + catch mode)
DS flash card
Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume (and only because it's so...evil...)
Honeycomb Beat

If it weren't for the GBA slot, the DS would be nigh upon worthless. A flash card used purely for SNES/GEN emulation is infinitely more useful than any ten DS games. I bought a PSP with the intention of cracking it for emulation, but I ended up just playing a shitton of PSP games instead (because there's actually a shitton of really great PSP games!).

[Blackbird]

I like how you listed several great DS games at the same time you claimed that the DS was terrible

[TLB]

That obviously just shows that I have good taste.

[mortified_penguin]

There's 10 DS games worth owning? Huh.

1. Front Mission First
2. Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey
3......never liked anything else

Henry Hatsworth looks awesome but I can't keep a DS around long enough to give it a shot.

[BulletMagnet]

Henry Hatsworth looks awesome but I can't keep a DS around long enough to give it a shot.

DO IT.

[greg]

That obviously just shows that I have good taste.

...says the guy who loves Metallica so much that he uses the band's name as his userid.

[TLB]

That obviously just shows that I have good taste.

...says the guy who loves Metallica so much that he uses the band's name as his userid.

I'm sick of explaining this, so this is the last time I'm going to do it. Take note. This is a very old username (almost half my life ago) which I only used to register here so that one user would recognise me. I haven't changed it because it's OG as shit and I'm too cool for that weak noise.

Apart from that, Metallica is actually a great band. Whenever people say Metallica sucks, hipster-alarm bells start ringing in my mind. The only shitty part of Metallica is the drumming (and some of Kirk's solos, I guess...they're pretty bottom-of-the-barrel). Lars Ulrich had no real place in the band, but I guess no one noticed because they were all so drunk all the time. Seriously, they wrote technically fantastic, socially conscious, and soulful fucking music.

Not only that, but Metallica is one of Manabu Namiki's favorite bands. Metallica is one of the reasons Namiki started fucking around on synthesizers. He wanted to imitate metal with synthesizers. He is consistently listed as one of Namiki's own huge influences.

On top of that, I'm pretty sure I listen to a wider spectrum of music than you, and have better taste in almost all of it. I'm weak in some alternative rock and hip-hop. My favorite hip-hop artists are Tyler (the Creator), Canibus, Del, Immortal Technique, etc. Snoop is usually fun, too.

Anyway, DS sucks. If you liked Boktai, you could try Lunar Knights. That could almost take the place of "DS flash card" in my list.

[greg]

Heh, I just wanted to get a rise out of you. Mission accomplished. You probably do like more types of music than me, but no worries on my part. I could probably give you a hard time for listening to hip hop and being over the age of 15, but I'll just leave that one alone. My beef with Metallica isn't so much the band itself as it is the dorky die-hard fans who can't shut up about the band. I just saw "Metallica" and decided to give you a hard time because I'm a dick. This may not apply to you, but in my experience, it's usually a typical online dork's dilemma on which userid to choose from: Mageknight, Darkwolf, LordVader, Metallica, or some variation on those.

Anyhow, about the DS, I think that if you're not at all interested in oldschool JRPGs or SRPGs, then the DS is probably not much of interest for you. For me, however, there seems to be a never ending flow of cool stuff for the DS.

[CMoon]

DS blows.

My one comment on this is that your milage on the DS really depends on what sort of games you want to play. The DS is an RPG monster and I feel like it currently has every current system beat in that department--at least for old school and jrpgs. Of course, if you aren't a fan of those games I can't see much of a reason for owning a DS, so you see it really depends on your tastes.

[Rob]

Feels like consoles still have portables soundly beat when it comes to quality of the JRPGs. DS stuff in general is a lot of 16-bit simplicity with cruddy 32-bit era 3D.

[iconoclast]

Feels like consoles still have portables soundly beat when it comes to quality of the JRPGs. DS stuff in general is a lot of 16-bit simplicity with cruddy 32-bit era 3D.

Agreed. Consoles have quality, portables have quantity.

But Devil Survivor is still awesome.

[BulletMagnet]

Feels like consoles still have portables soundly beat when it comes to quality of the JRPGs. DS stuff in general is a lot of 16-bit simplicity with cruddy 32-bit era 3D.

Have you tried the aforementioned Radiant Historia? You might be pleasantly surprised by that one, despite the admittedly 32-bit 3D elements, heh.

[Rob]

Yeah, that's the last one I played.

[BulletMagnet]

Hmm...did you like it at all, or did you end up lumping it in with the rest? I'm enjoying it quite a bit myself, so I'm curious as to your thoughts...

[BrianC]

Haven't heard of Tony Hawk DS but why is it being compared to and labelled a platformer?

It's not a platformer, but the series defintely has some influnce from 3D platformers like Super Mario 64. I have the game and like it quite a bit, though I could have done without the touch screen stuff.