What [not shmup] game are you playing now?

[professor ganson]

My older daughter is really enjoying the new Disgaea, but I haven't had a chance to play it myself. Looks good. Too busy with Fire Emblem: Awakening, though.

[lilmanjs]

Burnout 3 Takedown on the xbox. I have been enjoying it once again, but this Sports GP has kicked my ass, not because I suck, but because of an annoying glitch on the final race. There's a turn that I can go into and fall into a glitch that takes anywhere from 10-30 seconds to finally get a crash, which doesn't help you win the GP.

[Ruldra]

I'm giving Cadillacs & Dinosaurs a try and it's actually growing on me. Never really played this game seriously before. Seems easier than the typical Capcom beat-em-up.

Made it to the stage 6 boss, but I still find myself fucking up the fight with the Butcher.

[Hagane]

Yeah it's among the easiest from what I've seen so far. Dash / running attacks in general are very very strong and you deal tons of damage with basic combos. Who are you using?

The Butcher is not that hard once you know how he behaves. You want to knock him out of the screen, get away to the opposite side with dash / running attacks (or Mustapha's divekick), and hit him when he gets in again. It takes him a while to attack after reentering the screen. If he goes for the buttslam, just move away since he aims it at your position, wait a bit so he's fully on the ground (if you hit him while he's bouncing you'll instantly knock him down and reduce your damage potential) and punish, then get away and repeat.

As long as he doesn't have his machetes he's very predictable since he focuses on getting them back.

[Vexorg]

I'm still on the fence about Disgaea D2, but that's mostly because I'm just not sure if I have time for another 200-hour grindfest at this point. It does sound like they've made some nice enhancements to this one though. One thing that's always bothered me about the other Disgaea games is that Laharl reverted back to being a big jerk in the various cameos pretty much immediately after Disgaea 1 ended.

[Ruldra]

Who are you using?

Mustapha, of course His dropkick is very very overpowered. Kinda funny how you can just run back and forth dropkicking everyone.

And thanks for the Butcher tips.

[Leandro]

but I still find myself fucking up the fight with the Butcher.

Remember there's a piece of small food inside one of the barrels before the boss, middle of the bottom row. Carry the barrel to the battle or throw it to the right of the screen so the food stays within reach during the fight.

About the Butcher: a much less time consuming way of beating him is doing your combo into throw (hold up to throw forward or down to backwards) and then following his falling body with the running jump; doing it fast enough you can land on top of him just before he wakes up and combo+throw again. Repeat it and he'll be dead even before the fat guys enter the screen...

[null1024]

Pokemon Y [3DS].

oh fuck, it's so good, and so pretty
Shame it's so piss-easy though. Beat the last 5 gyms without thinking, they just died. I was expecting them to have one more Pokemon... after downing their last.

The lack of stereo-3D in most areas is really disappointing, same with some of the framerate drops without 3D on.

also don't save in the outer ring street in Luminose City, apparently that will result in an unloadable save, it was recommended to me that I save only in buildings in the city, waiting for that crap to get patched

[Obiwanshinobi]

MGS2 on Hard. Amazingly replayable for a linear action-adventure. I forgot either how sandbox it is, or how I like sneaking games.
Maybe I forgot neither; I just didn't realise how joyful that period of my life was when I played it for the first time.
I'd revisit Manhunt soon if only I didn't remember that being fast is necessary to get maximum rank after missions. What a fly in the ointment.

[Ruldra]

About the Butcher: a much less time consuming way of beating him is doing your combo into throw (hold up to throw forward or down to backwards) and then following his falling body with the running jump; doing it fast enough you can land on top of him just before he wakes up and combo+throw again. Repeat it and he'll be dead even before the fat guys enter the screen...

I'll give that a try.

Question: is it possible to kill the stage 6 boss early or do you need to go through all three transformations?

[Furry Fox Jet Pilot]

Burnout 3 Takedown on the xbox. I have been enjoying it once again, but this Sports GP has kicked my ass, not because I suck, but because of an annoying glitch on the final race. There's a turn that I can go into and fall into a glitch that takes anywhere from 10-30 seconds to finally get a crash, which doesn't help you win the GP.

I have it on PS2, and I don't recall any glitches like that, also be forewarned, the game gets extremely difficult and annoying towards the end. In later races, you cannot afford to crash even ONCE, the annoying rubberband-style A.I. will kick your ass horribly. You might as well just restart the race if you do crash. They will overtake you and leave you far behind very quickly. It's basically impossible to catch up if you are at least 30 seconds or more behind.

[Leandro]

About the Butcher: a much less time consuming way of beating him is doing your combo into throw (hold up to throw forward or down to backwards) and then following his falling body with the running jump; doing it fast enough you can land on top of him just before he wakes up and combo+throw again. Repeat it and he'll be dead even before the fat guys enter the screen...

I'll give that a try.

Question: is it possible to kill the stage 6 boss early or do you need to go through all three transformations?

You need* to go through the transformations, however, there's a split second you can damage the parasite a little before he latches on the last two enemies. Normally you can grab and throw, or grab and do the down+up attack if quick enough.

* unless you are this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmEI1q7-w08

[trap15]

Shame it's so piss-easy though. Beat the last 5 gyms without thinking, they just died. I was expecting them to have one more Pokemon... after downing their last.

Yeah, it's definitely a shame how absurdly easy it is

I'm hoping they decide to drop a second region down in the future, hopefully a harder one.

[null1024]

Pokemon Y [3DS].

Apparently, you can call your friends that are playing. Sound quality's ass, but it was pretty cool. Holding the 3DS up to my head like a phone made me feel like an idiot though.


@trap15:
Yeah, the only remote difficulty I've had all game is navigating Luminose City [fuck how every single street looks nearly identical to every other one]. Oh, and remembering that Gardevoir's typing is different, so I'm going to get dicked by Steel and Poison moves instead of Bug and Dark. That's it.

[trap15]

Glad I'm not the only one who finds that city a nightmare. Have this helpful map:

[SuperGrafx]

Splinter Cell Blacklist (X360)

[Ruldra]

Okay, Mess is a fucking powerhouse and I've switched to him now. His running attack isn't that good but his basic combo + throw is deadly. Most of the time you can just keep using that and you'll be fine.

city map

Is there any reason there are 14 cafes in that city??

[null1024]

Thanks, trap! I wish there was a R/S/E style city-level map in-game, blah. Whoever decided to have a radially symmetrical city should be flayed over an open fire, fuck. I'm pretty sure I've never seen some of these places in the city yet either, and I got lost for an hour looking for Lysandre's Cafe the first time.

Man, is there any reason to tip anyone in the game?
Also, fuck the barber shop: decide to leave hair alone -- still pay money.
But, the game gives you money like it's candy on Halloween, so it's okay? Never in any prior gen did I end up with 100k poke before reaching post-game. Even when there's all this expensive shit to buy and things that seem like extortion.

city map

Is there any reason there are 14 cafes in that city??

Good question.

[trap15]

Is there any reason there are 14 cafes in that city??

Because it's Paris

Man, is there any reason to tip anyone in the game?

I think it gives you "style" points? Maybe? No idea. I just like to be nice :3

But, the game gives you money like it's candy on Halloween, so it's okay? Never in any prior gen did I end up with 100k poke before reaching post-game.

I had 300k at the last Pokemon Center before E4 Game really does give you way too much money.

[BrianC]

Interesting that there is a Loto ID center in the city. Does this mean that anyone off the street can come in and get an ID to trick people into thinking they are the legendary hero from the early Dragon Quest games?

Café Gallant looks like the fanciest one sine it's the only one on the map with that dash thing above the e.

[Ed Oscuro]

/me looks at map
/me eyes fall across this trio of place names

BALLS
LEYEAH
JUICE

it's autumnal awright

[BIL]

"You guys still mad at me or le nah?"

[Obiwanshinobi]

Kuru Kuru Kururin this morning. One of two GBA games where I found bare SP sub-optimal. The gamepad-like extension I gave a try the other day, though, works wonders. I in fact wish there was a way to check out how SP extended this way works as a controller with games outside of GBA library.

[BIL]

Inspired by the recent ZERUDA NO DENSETSU kerfuffle (STFU haters! My cart is glorious nippon ver and I can't understand anybody, good thing I remember this shit!), I replayed the original game this weekend. Still rovin' it, especially that MFN' second loop. More than ever I dig its total lack of both fascinating unskippable story and any compunction about killing the player. Great hybrid of free roaming and arcadey seek-and-destroy, and once you know the basic layouts, more concise and suited to one-sitting play than its similarly uncompromising sequel. I was getting flashbacks to Granada and Assault at one particularly Blue Wizzrobe-infested point. Currently having a blast attempting to one-life the second loop and its merciless dungeons.

[system11]

I just finished Beyond: Two Souls.

Good: the script, the characters, the graphics and sound
Bad: over half the game is like Dragons Lair, just hit the thumbstick a few times. Several annoying uses of sixaxis motion sensors. It's impossible to lose.

[Ruldra]

C&D progress so far:



At this point Slice is being my biggest problem, I don't have a safe strategy to take him down yet. Then you throw two of them at me and shit gets ugly fast...

[null1024]

I had 300k at the last Pokemon Center before E4 Game really does give you way too much money.

Just got there and had 400k [before going back into the 300k range after buying a few supplies and a new outfit]. This game better have a good postgame damnit. The 8th gym was hideously easy -- use some vaguely strong moves, also since you got a Lucario with a Mega Stone, actually just spam Aura Sphere.

best thing so far: Oblivion Wing is super busted but I love it -- motherfucking orbital laser cannon that drains health, it doesn't get cooler than that, beat Lysandre almost entirely with that one move

Kuru Kuru Kururin this morning. One of two GBA games where I found bare SP sub-optimal. The gamepad-like extension I gave a try the other day, though, works wonders. I in fact wish there was a way to check out how SP extended this way works as a controller with games outside of GBA library.

Oh man, this game is so fun. I saw it reviewed on CGR, and knew I had to play it. Playing it on my original GBA is the worst though, since the GBA screen is even darker than the damn GBC one... going to end up just loading the ROM on my PSP.

[BrianC]

Kururin Paradise is good stuff too.

[Leandro]

C&D progress so far:



At this point Slice is being my biggest problem, I don't have a safe strategy to take him down yet. Then you throw two of them at me and shit gets ugly fast...

Most diffficult battle in the game. How many lives did you have in stock coming into the fight?

Advice for Mess: active movement, smart use of the A+B attack (you can use it out of range/when they are down so you don't hit with it, and it still gives you 1.5 second of invulnerability after the animation is over); never do his running attack as Slisaurs can outprioritize it. The running jump attack is great to reposition or get the initiative, but the bulk of damage will come from your slams.

Easy way out is switching back to Mustapha and drop kick the Slisaurs left and right, that's what I did years ago when I only wanted my first 1cc in this game.

[Ruldra]

Easy way out is switching back to Mustapha and drop kick the Slisaurs left and right, that's what I did years ago when I only wanted my first 1cc in this game.

Yeah, I switched back to him and managed to 2cc the game. Mess is a good character but he struggles really hard in some parts. Mustapha's dropkick solves all problems apparently lol.

I'm surprised the final boss has no mooks with him, makes the fight really easy. I should get the 1cc in a day or two.