Game: What game are you currently playing??

[itadakimasu]

any other final fantasy fans in here try playing Final Fantasy 4 : The After Years?

I like it... I wish I had more time to play it, but I was getting into the story the other day.... FF4 is one of my all time favorite games and my #1 FF game ever... so I was anxious to play this when I heard it was out.

The graphics are amazing !!! (j/k : X )

The story is kinda intriguing though.>> I'm starting to see that In a way it mirrors the original but it's a little early to tell.

[fireheart]

I thought my post made it pretty clear what my dominant system is? I couldn't care less for Throphies, I've got like 10 bronze ones from killzone 2.
Compare that to my 21.2k score on xblive..... Yeah trophies are irrelevant to me.

I never really understood why people care about trophies or achievements or maybe it's because none of them matter to me. The only game I've ever tried to get as many trophies/achievements in is Star Ocean III on ps2 because you actually got something for them, new costumes etc.

[darkshadow]

It's a simple fact players like to be rewarded, for anything. Though I don't really care for achievements are almost insultingly easy to get. The achievements simply tell you and your friends you've done something that might be very hard.

I know people who like to lie about things they never have done to make themselfs seem more interesting and this includes game related stuff. With Achievements and Throphies its at least pretty hard to lie about those now.

It also shows how dedicated you are at playing the game. Plus some games do give other bonuses for achievements gained, like gamerpictures. Or like in Mass Effect, you get certain stat bonuses for getting certain achievements. In other games some difficult unlock might be tied to an achievement as well.

So it's not all just for points, even though most seem that way.

[Ryllharu]

A lot of games I don't really care about achievements, and JRPG ones can be especially bad, either impossibly hard or mind-numbingly stupid (all set as 'secret' and turn out to be just beat the regular bosses as the game goes on).

Soul Calibur IV in particular they were vital though. You could either painstakingly unlock all of the Create-a-soul costume pieces, or just get 30 achievements and buy them with gold in the game.

They don't really mean all that much in the end, but the really hard ones are worth doing, if only for bragging rights.

[Nadouku]

I've been chipping away at Blizzard games again, preferrably Starcraft and Warcraft III.

[Xelbair]

Concept of achievements broke some games - for example the World of Warcraft. Before WotLK if there was a raid on any of the big cities, most lvl 60/70 players would rush there to help defending. Now its like "let them - it's for achievement".

In guitar hero Metallica achievement system forces you to buy full a bundle of instruments + a additional foot pad, a additional guitar, and forces you into playing with 4 people. That is if you are achievement maniac.

Overall i just don't like concept of achievements. It is artificially increasing difficulty and prolonging game's life. If you read the achievements you will want to complete some of them, and die many time trying, and you will try to get them all. Even through the game lasts for 5-7 hours(like Mirror's Edge) or less, It's play-time can be prolonged by those achievements. Developers instead of designing new levels, they just cup the plot at some point, add some achievements and leave the rest of the material to sequel.

[fireheart]

darkshadow: I guess that makes sense, though since I hardly play online and my friends don't really do achievements/trophies I don't have much reason to collect. Though for me it'd be more interesting if more games gave you something for the achievements/trophies even if it's small things like in Mass Effect like you said.

ryllharu: I should take a look at what kind of achievements you get from JRPGs then. Though all my Trophies for blazblue are in japanese, not sure how I got them or why but for some reason when I imported the U.S version that's what I got.

[animus]

Playing Batman: Arkham Asylum, a game that can only be described as "Totally fucking awsome."

Agreed. I thought it was gonna be good but I didn't think I would like it this much. Some reviews have praised it for an amazing pace, and I was like "How good can it be?". It turns out they were right.

[Ryllharu]

ryllharu: I should take a look at what kind of achievements you get from JRPGs then. Though all my Trophies for blazblue are in japanese, not sure how I got them or why but for some reason when I imported the U.S version that's what I got.

A number of BlazBlue's achievements are hilariously stupid for the 360:

- (Bangarang!) Fought against Bang as Bang, and both activated the "Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan". (His super-saiyan mode distortion drive)
- (Cat-a-pult) Threw a Kaka clan kitten using Taokaka's "Kitty Litter Special!".
- (Hat Trick) In one match, successfully pulled off "Thirteen Orphans", "The Great Wheel", and "All Green". [Litchi's Distortion Drives.]
- (Ride the Icening) Used Musou Senshouzan or Tosshougeki over 20 times in one round, and finished the opponent off. [Jin's icicle ride attack]
- (This is important...) Heard Noel say, "Hands off the panda!" over 100 times.

But there are plenty of legitimately challenging or tricky ones as well.

- Keeping Rachel afloat for 25 seconds
- Beating Arcade on the hardest difficultly
- Use every character's Astral Finish
- Beat Score Attack Mode (super hard!)

As fighting games go, BlazBlue hit a really good balance between easy and fun achievements, and ones that you can really brag about. A lot of fighters just throw in all their achievements as "Use [e.g. guard break] 1000 times," or beating huge numbers of online players. BlazBlue has some of those as well, but it is the nice balance that makes it a good list.

Soul Calibur IV's were broadly distributed as well, but it didn't have as many fun ones (if any).

[Xelbair]

Hehe, Ride the Icening - Ky's overdrive move from GG was Ride the Lightning. Good that they kept references to the GG.
Damn i can't wait for this game...

[Shadow Skill]

Currently playing 360's Onechanbara: Samurai Bikini Squad. Best eye candy game I've ever invested in.

[RyougaZell]

any other final fantasy fans in here try playing Final Fantasy 4 : The After Years?

I like it... I wish I had more time to play it, but I was getting into the story the other day.... FF4 is one of my all time favorite games and my #1 FF game ever... so I was anxious to play this when I heard it was out.

The graphics are amazing !!! (j/k : X )

The story is kinda intriguing though.>> I'm starting to see that In a way it mirrors the original but it's a little early to tell.

I bought it, but haven't had the time to play it though.
I'll try to play it during my vacation in 2 weeks.

[Psyke]

The geeky side of me wants to import this right now. Though, a KOF one would be so much more awesome.

[fireheart]

Got my ex of Dissidia Special Edition in the mail today, got to say I'm both impressed and disappointed at the extra contents. While I like that you get a mini soundtrack it's still just that a mini soundtrack with 6 tracks. Would have liked something closer to Persona 4 where they split it into 2 cds, A and B where you get A with the game.

I love the box itself, it's not just a paper cover they put over the game like Blazblue etc it's a proper hard box.

The mini guide was a nice touch and was overall ok in my opinion. Probably going to buy the full guide just for the sake of owning it later on.

The artbook, I love how it's a hardcover book though I'm disappointed at the content of the artbook. Mostly because it consist of the official character illustration most have already seen and it's even on the front page of the game plus in-game character models of the alternative costume + ex mode. So it's a shame it's not more than that.

As for the game, well already played the Japanese version so no big surprises when it comes to the game itself. And I like the cover for the game that you can switch it back and forth with Cosmos side and Chaos side.

[RyougaZell]

That bad fireheart?
Im glad I just decided to buy the simple version with no extras and didn't import any of the special editions for a heavy extra cost.

I would gladly import Persona good though...


Im currently playing Batman Arkham Assylum. Its freaking amazing.

[fireheart]

I don't know overall I'm happy with it but it still feels lacking, if it was a proper artbook and soundtrack it would have been so much better and definitely worth it. The outside of it all is good it's just what's inside that don't live up to the expectations. SE could learn alot from Atlus when it comes to the contents of the extra goodies.

I preordered Persona last week so hopefully I'll have it... maybe a week after the release given the shipping and all.

[RyougaZell]

My main problem is that I need to pay a big extra to get those special editions or extra goodies since none of the stores in Mexico bring them over.
I remember having to wait an extra month to get my Raihou from Devil Summoner 2 and my Social Link Persona Expansion pack. And I paid a lot more for them =/

None of Dissidia's extras seemed interesting for me. So I went and bought it with a local store.

I do have my Persona pre-ordered though. Even if all copies include the OST.

[fireheart]

Where do you order from? I don't really know the costs for shipping etc to where you live but VG+ and axelmusic been pretty good to me when it comes to the costs for shipping etc.

[RyougaZell]

A flea market guy actually.
He always gets me the games I ask him for. And he sells them to me less than an official local store (800 pesos vs 950~1000 of the official stores)

Pre-orders like the one of Persona 4 I ask a friend that works in the US to buy it from me and I pay him through paypal.

[fireheart]

Damn that's a lot cheaper than games here, in your currency I think it'd be something like 1300 for a new game...