Currently playing at the moment Resident Evil Revelations 2. Much better improvement from the first game. Also big plus to have a RE game were you can actually have the original Japanese Audio.

No, you need to have them actively do something in the battle for it to count. Like guarding, attacking, using an item, anything. Just swapping in for a second doesn't count. Also, I'm only saying you need to have everyone in the party evenly and use that because I did not do that once and I had to restart after getting stuck on Gagazet because Boss at that area. And it was annoying as fuck to redo everything.

C-A

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Seymour or the ronsos? The ronsos scale with Kimahri's level so the weaker he is, the weaker they are.

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Yeah and if it was the former then you can easily grind if need be to beat him with your main party members rather than training up old ones.

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Seymour. The ronso kids are easy. Especially since you can just get practically every Blue Mage skill from them.

C-A

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I have come across somethingg I found interesting.... that it had to be tested. I go a support S on Fire Emblem Awkaening with MU ad Kjelle and I wanted to get Noire's S Support so I went and go Tharja and Libra married because I can and got married to Noire and of course as a caution guy I saved on file 3 for every marriage support for MU. Now I just gotta do Cynthia Say'ri Emmyern, and Aversa..... Kinda sucks that Aversa and Emmyern are only available at End game. :/

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Just bio with lulu. It makes the fight much easier as poison damage is actually good in this game.

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I recall doing that once and he kept healing himself from it. Then again, doesn't matter. Seymour is a terrible character and his boss fights are so similar that it's easy to confuse them. Really, I like X for its story, but it has a huge problem with being JUST sad and dark and all that. There's no good humor in it to really lighten the mood even for an instance. It's just... EVERYTHING SUCKS IN SPIRA! WHAAAAAAA! Jeez. Lighten up! Or, at the very least, give me some characters who say terrible jokes because it's how they COPE in that world. Making the entire story and world suck with "darkness" and sadness just makes me stop caring. Darkness Induced Apathy, after all.

C-A

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Actually if I remember correctly, it's not that he heals himself from it it's that he drains a substantial amount of health from his minion to make up for it.

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*cough*

All I remember from Seymour Flux is taking a month break because I didn't feel like grinding.

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Pretty much, and the fact that his minion has little health and he can't heal the poison status makes it easier. The only time I had trouble against Flux was my first time before I discovered the poison strat. You ask most people who are familiar with ffx and they'll recommend poison.

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Well, I've completed Xenoblade Chronicles. I'm now in the process of doing some of the extra stuff (additional skill branches, unfinished quests, etc.). I definitely like this game. I almost never had to grind, though that's because I usually did any sidequest I came across as soon as it popped up. I've always hated grinding, so I was quite pleased by how little grinding I needed to do in order to complete the game--that said, I'd probably have needed to do much more grinding if I had just done a bare-bones playthrough. It wasn't perfect in that area, though; if I hadn't gathered the right items beforehand in the process of doing other things, item-gathering sidequests often frustrated me. Nothing quite like having to go around to gather X quantity of an item that only has a Y% chance of spawning/being dropped each time, ah? Also, since the time of my initial post about this game, I've grown more attached to the characters--even the antagonists, to an extent, though my reasons for liking antagonists are usually different from my reasons for liking protagonists. A protagonist I like is someone who I want to succeed in some or all of his/her endeavors. An antagonist I like is either someone whom I feel very sorry for (and hope the plot will allow to live) or someone I so despise that I want to punch his/her teeth out. The game had plenty of all of these. The mechanics--especially the combat mechanics--were also such that I was able to get used to them without too much difficulty, though part of that may be because some of the mechanics--such as the equipment system and basic stats--are common enough in RPGs that I already had plenty of experience with them from other games. I was especially pleased by the "start again from the previous landmark" mechanic for when I'm defeated. Having to reload from the most recent save is often unpleasant. Admittedly, it was still annoying if, say, an enemy sent me flying off a cliff and the most recent landmark was a long way away from the battle, but I still prefer that over having to reload from the previous save. In all likelihood, the landmark system saves more time than it wastes unless you're the kind of person who saves the game between every battle. Overall, I'd give this game a 4.

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Well if you ask most players who the most memorable boss fight was, they'd probably mention the Inner Zanarkand boss. No, not the crouching dragon. No, not the mine-field dragon. That other one. You know the one. (Really, I think the only "difficult" part of that boss was the dang long cutscene before the fight that you just plain can't skip... then again, maybe it's cause I had Nirvana unlocked and used Holy with 1 MP... or it was just a weapon with 1 MP...)

C-A

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Haha if it's the one I'm thinking of I remember spending ages making Zombie-proof Armour for that fight, failing to realise that Zombie-status is the only thing that protects you from MEGADETH.



Glad to see you like it General, it really is one of the standout RPGs from the last generation. I particularly love the environments, everyone of them are huge and expansive and the game actively rewards you for exploring. I'm not sure if you looked at the numbers but you get substantial experience for just finding new places! Peeking into odd nooks and crannies for optional bosses and unique items and the like is just so exciting. It takes the beautiful open field thing and just makes it so well used. Exploration is compelling, the music is exhilarating as well (though as always this is subject to taste).

Also as weird as it is I really liked the Quest system. It was mighty clunky at points what with specifically timed NPCs and all but most of the quests develop the relationships between other NPCs. Say a questline is about a Nopon and her husband who are having issues because he drinks too much. You remedy the marital problem over a period of time, the relationship goes through ups and downs. Both of them confide in a mutual friend to another settlement and you talk to the mutual friend in and solve the problem. Then the mutual friend has his own problems and the married couple are concerned about him and want to help him in the new settlement. You just get to watch how relationships develop on a flow chart and see how it improves the overall morale of a settlement and I just found it really satisfying to watch how little kindnesses around town developed and expanded to create a warmer community.

I'll wait and see how the 3DS version plays, if it's perfectly functional I'll buy it on that, otherwise I'll buy the original and gun through it then.

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Or get Deathproof Armor... and then slap it on Auron. Hilarious.

C-A

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...Oh that one. Try doing it without crafting weapons, using empty sphere slots, or key spheres. That's how I went through the entire game.

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Playing BOXBOY! for the 3DS. It's a cute little pick-up-and-play puzzle game by HAL Laboratory that's really good for short sessions in between other stuff.

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I've been playing Civilization V again. In particular, I'm playing the Superpower mod, which adds some interesting twists--among them, being unable to play on the lower difficulties I'm used to. Supposedly, this mod's lowest difficulty (which I'm playing on) is similar to Prince-level difficulty. Unsurprisingly, I'm playing as Russia. I'm also playing on a "real Earth" map that's designed to place every civilization's capital in its actual location. Resource locations are another story, though, considering the presence of coffee a bit to the north of the Caucasus. The other civilizations in this playthrough are Spain, Persia, India, Sukhothai (Siam), China, the Joseon Kingdom (Korea), Japan, the Mongol Empire, Songhai, and the Zulu Kingdom. Most of my efforts have revolved around forming a single contiguous state that had no rival enclaves. Still, that process has led to me being involved in two wars.

The first was an early war against Persia. Despite promising not to settle near Russian territory (Darius had demanded the same of me, so I felt it was only fair that he meet me halfway), Darius established a settlement on the Black Sea's coast near the Don River. Thanks to some clever use of the terrain in the Caucasus, Darius had trouble reinforcing his positions despite having superior numbers. In the end, Darius's settlement was destroyed and I founded one of my own. Azov remains a critical port city in my empire. I also managed to expand westward during the war, as Darius refused peace until I had taken another one of his settlements near the Carpathian Mountains and founded one of my own in Prague's general area. Still, despite fighting a war early in the game, the Persian Empire is now one of Russia's closest friends.

The second war was against India around the time my troops first started using gunpowder-based weapons. To be blunt, this was a simple war of aggression with the intent to capture some land in Central Asia. My forces quickly captured two of India's cities. Perhaps because he was busy fighting another war, Gandhi was very quick to sue for peace. I was a bit surprised, considering his performance against China. The cities I captured were renamed based on their real-world locations: Chardzhou (also known as Türkmenabat) and Namangan. India remains a rival of mine, though we're technically on friendly terms. Considering Gandhi's AI, I'm hoping to get the Non-Proliferation Treaty passed before he can develop any nuclear weapons. Technologically, he was my equal until somewhat recently. If I can't maintain my technological advantage, things could get really nasty. The Superpower mod includes an "everyone loses" nuclear winter scenario that can be triggered through excessive use of nuclear weapons. If anyone's going to trigger that scenario, it's Gandhi.

I haven't paid that much attention to events in East Asia, as they have never concerned me. No one state appears powerful enough to become a threat. The Mongol Empire controls the most land, but is technologically way behind, so I'm not particularly worried about them right now (though I do expect to end up at war with them at some point, judging by Genghis Khan's recent decision to build a citadel next to one of my copper mines). For a while, everyone was ganging up on China. I have no idea what Wu did to so thoroughly tick off every one of her neighbors. Then again, she wasn't too fond of me, either, so maybe her neighbors just didn't like her attitude (I sure didn't). I use the past tense here because China recently fell to a Mongol-Indian-Korean coalition. The three of them are now fighting amongst themselves.

I recently got involved in a third war, though. Songhai had recently taken a lot of land from Spain and had only recently agreed to peace. Things got ugly when Songhai and the Zulu Kingdom joined forces and attacked Persia. For a while, the Persians held, but the Zulu eventually managed to overwhelm the Persians in the Middle East. I decided to intervene on the Persians' side. I had hoped to get more time to build up my forces, but the arrival of the Zulu in the Levant forced my hand. My technological advantage allowed me to repel the initial invasion despite having inferior numbers, but it didn't last forever. My first army fought to the bitter end as reinforcements came in from the Caucasus. Still, they succeeded in their main objective: stop the Zulu forces from steamrolling through what remained of the Persian Empire.

The situation was similar with Songhai; I was building up two fleets to drive Askia's forces out of Europe, but attacked early when Askia's forces came too close to capturing Persian cities in Asia Minor. The main difference is that the naval war hasn't had as many casualties on my side. I've lost one ship, but that's it. The war has been costly, but I'm finally getting the upper hand--probably due in large part to my Black Sea Fleet providing support against the Zulu ground forces. My armies are gradually wearing down the Zulu. Meanwhile, the Black Sea Fleet has liberated some Persian cities in North Africa while the Baltic Sea Fleet has liberated many Spanish cities in Europe. Both Shaka and Askia have come forward with peace offers in Russia's favor, but I've rejected them. There will be no peace until they either give everything they took back to its rightful owners or I give it back for them. They're unwilling to part with all of it, so the war continues.

Right now, I'm in the Modern Era and it's the mid-1800s. The New World remains largely unsettled, though I imagine that will change eventually. The Superpower mod's corruption mechanic discourages far-flung empires. I have one settlement on Hawai‘i and another on Cuba. Both are quite inefficient due to their distance from Moscow. For the most part, I only founded them so they could serve as naval bases if I ever needed to send forces over there. Tikhookeansk, my city on Hawai‘i, might also be a useful trading port, though it's not a priority. Because of the inefficiency of colonies, I don't plan on building more settlements there--though I might build some fortifications in the Isthmus of Panama to allow ships to get from the Atlantic to the Pacific more quickly. Ships can pass through forts in the Superpower mod, so a full settlement isn't necessary in this particular situation.

On an unrelated side-note, I also edited the game's audio files. Katya's war and peace themes are now taken from my personal music library. I was getting a little sick of Dance of the Knights.

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In SMT IV, I ended up on the Law Route. No pro, I was sort of kind of a bit aiming for it, though my choices made it obvious I got lots of points in my alignment so, it was obviously going to happen. I still can't quite get used to those designs for the angels... eldritch abomination doesn't quite fit. Though I have completely forgotten Tokyo's layout again so I have no idea where to go again... I think Ichigaya for the story, but I honestly don't know... Sidequests first, though.

C-A

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Finally got Donkey Kong 64 on Virtual Console. Never played this before so this should be fun.

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I finally have Songhai and the Zulu Kingdom willing to accept my terms in my Civilization V playthrough. Spain and Persia have both been liberated and the Songhai and Zulu presence outside of Africa has been removed. The war lasted 85 turns. Another interesting aspect of the Superpower mod is that casualties in war can decrease the population of your cities. Songhai and the Zulu Kingdom lost a lot of troops to my forces, so they're going to be feeling the cost of the war for a long time. Bombardment of cities also decreases population, so some Songhai and Zulu cities on the coast got hit, but other than that, their African possessions are largely untouched.

Unfortunately, Russia is not at peace. On the 83rd turn of the war with Songhai and the Zulu Kingdom, India and the Mongol Empire finally made their move and declared war on Russia. Neither country appears to have prepared a particularly large invasion force right off the bat, but I expect enemy troops to start pouring in before long. I saw it coming, so I did have a small force present in Central Asia at the time, but I'm still getting most of my forces out of Africa. The Mongols are way behind technologically, so the war with them is going to be a massacre. I'm more concerned about India right now; they're only slightly behind. I'm very close to being able to propose the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The deciding moment will likely come soon. Depending on how the war with India goes, I might develop some nuclear weapons of my own while waiting for the NPT to pass--though I intend to dismantle every last one of them once the war is over.

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I love your rundowns of Civ 5 life General but can you clarify what this mod actually does?

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It's a pretty big mod. Honestly, I don't think I can properly explain all of it. For starters, the tech tree has been expanded, which in turn means more buildings and units. In addition, the mod brings back the Civilization IV concept of structures being rendered obsolete. The cost of each technology, as well as the rate at which technology is gained, appears to have also been changed to allow players more time with some technologies. The social policy system has also been slightly revamped, changing some policies outright and adding some, too. There's also the aforementioned nuclear winter option I brought up earlier--though I hope to avoid experiencing it. Far-flung empires also tend to be bad ideas thanks to a corruption mechanic that makes cities less efficient the further they are from the capital (though the capital can be moved, just as could be done in Civilization IV). Let's see... what else...

Combat is more complex thanks to tweaks to each unit, the possibility of stacking units (though only a maximum of two to a tile), and the presence of collateral damage and area-of-effect attacks. Each unit type now has a particular strength and weakness, discouraging players from spamming a single unit. In addition, the collateral damage mechanic adds a potential risk to stacking units--though the risk doesn't appear to discourage the AI from stacking units.

Oh, and there are new resources (such as the aforementioned coffee). Work boats can also build bridges over coastal tiles, provided there are two land tiles touching the tile in question. Admittedly, when I first read about that option, I was picturing something along the lines of the Øresund Bridge. To my disappointment, it's just a simple pontoon bridge, similar in design to the one Xerxes I supposedly used to get his forces across the Hellespont. It's also possible to build railroads across mountains, though no one in my current playthrough has the technology to do that just yet.

Edit: My peace treaty with Songhai is due to expire next turn. Regrettably, I may find myself at war with them again fairly soon; Persia and Spain were stupid enough to keep fighting Songhai even after their most powerful ally had pulled out of the war. Songhai has captured two Persian cities and one Spanish city. In addition, they are on the verge of capturing the Spanish capital (again). The 85 Turns' War may have hit Songhai hard, but evidently not hard enough to keep them from crushing Persia and Spain.

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Dammit! I was on the final boss for the Law Route (I STILL say it looks like Voldemort has a love child with a matador) and I accidentally hit Auto Battle. I stopped it, but not in time and he got me with Evil Shine. Argh!

C-A

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The war with India in my Civilization V playthrough is over. What was originally just a fight between me and Gandhi got complicated when Ramkhamhaeng got involved on my side. I know the poor fellow was angry with Gandhi, but his people would have been better off remaining neutral. Gandhi's forces crushed the Siamese, seizing all of Siam's mainland possessions and capturing most of their island possessions, too. Russia to the rescue. It took some time, but when the Black Sea Fleet arrived on the scene, the Indians were driven back. The Sunda Islands were liberated without too much difficulty. Regrettably, Siam's three largest cities were all inland, preventing my navy from liberating them. The mountains between India and Central Asia hindered my army's initial push into India. I had yet to develop howitzers, so my forces were unable to do anything about the bombardment by Indian forces. Once my forces got through the mountains, though, they had an easier time. It was pretty clear once Delhi had fallen that the war was won. The only thing keeping me from agreeing to peace was Siam's situation. I didn't want to repeat the mistakes of the 85 Turns' War; if I agreed to peace with India, they'd be free to conquer Siam. As such, I refused to make peace with Gandhi until he was willing to make peace with Ramkhamhaeng. Considering how long it took for him to see reason, I fully expected to have to liberate Sukhotai the hard way. Gandhi made peace with Siam right as my army approached the Shan Hills. Once he did that, I came forward with a peace offer: Russia would return the cities it captured during the war on the condition that India return the cities it took from Siam and pay tribute in luxury resources as reparations.

Mongolia is still at war with me. To put it lightly, they are not a threat. I've got tanks, machine guns, and howitzers. Genghis Khan has knights, pikemen, and culverins. Considering whom I'm dealing with, I don't expect Genghis Khan to learn from his mistake. If I were to offer the same terms I offered Gandhi, I'd likely soon find myself at war again. As such, I am technically being both more merciful and less merciful with Genghis Khan than I was with Gandhi. I am being less merciful in that I plan on keeping every Mongolian city I capture. Genghis Khan will be left with very little land once the war is over. I am being more merciful in that because I plan on taking the land, I am making every effort not to damage any tile improvements or bombard cities any more than is necessary to bring their defenses down (in the Superpower mod, a city will lose population if it's bombarded when it has 0 HP). My ultimate goal is to ensure Mongolia is no more of a threat than Japan is once the war is over (Oda has been friendly and almost powerless for most of this playthrough).

I've also declared war on Songhai and once again come to Persia's aid in its hour of need (How's that Freedom ideology working out for you, Darius?). My troops are once again poised to enter Africa. This time, they will not leave until Songhai has made peace with Spain and Persia. The longer Askia insists on continuing the war with my friends, the more his country will suffer. Shaka will be presented with a similar choice soon, though he has it slightly easier since he's already made peace with Spain. He still owes Isabella a few cities, though, and I will see to it that they are returned to their rightful owners. The sooner these cities are liberated, the better. Shaka has adopted the Autocracy ideology, and his people hate it. Two of his cities have defected to India. I want to make sure the cities he took from Spain don't get the chance to be among them.

The risk of nuclear war has, thankfully, been averted for now. The NPT was passed in a world in which there are no nuclear weapons; the only country with the means to produce them had produced only one and had detonated it as a test. With India no longer causing problems, I might call for the embargo against them to be lifted. It all depends on how Gandhi behaves once the peace treaty has expired. The game says he's not holding a grudge over the recent war, but I don't fully trust him just yet.

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I just beat the third gym in Pokemon Black 2.

Right now i'm just kind of level grinding and i expanded my team to have a Growlith.

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It took 226 turns, but at last, the Russian Empire is at peace in my Civilization V playthrough. The war with the Zulu Kingdom was fairly quick. After suffering some defeats in Europe and a few more in Africa, Shaka saw reason and agreed to return the Spanish cities he had seized. The real problem was Songhai. For a long time, Askia and Darius were both too stubborn to agree to peace. In the meantime, Ramkhamhaeng has declared war on India. [headdesk] Yes, that's right, the ally whose butt I saved just picked a fight with the guy who had previously been kicking said butt. There are idiots, there are Darwin Award laureates, and then there are my Civilization V allies. So far, his cities have held, but I don't expect it to last. The sooner I can persuade Gandhi or Ramkhamhaeng to agree to peace, the better. I'm perfectly willing to bribe them if it means stopping India from conquering Siam. Ugh. I'm starting to understand the appeal of isolationism. Just keeping my allies from getting crushed has occupied a lot of my time. I'm reminded of a line from Order of the Stick:

"Ah, the life of an adventuring cleric. I remember it well. A perpetual struggle to maintain the hit point totals of four or five nigh-suicidal tomb robbers determined to deplete them at all costs. Like bailing out a sinking ship with a thimble, most days."

--Malack, Comic #735

Genghis Khan agreed to peace earlier, agreeing to cede every city that was in real-world Russia. Like Gandhi, he's now getting friendly with me. I managed to get the embargo against India lifted, though I'm not sure if I'm ready to call for the embargo against Mongolia to be lifted--let alone Songhai and the Zulu Kingdom. Like Genghis Khan, Shaka has also tried to improve relations. Askia's the only leader who outright hates me at the moment, but judging by how Isabella and Darius have expressed an interest in going to war, I'm more worried about getting caught up in a war between two of my allies. Despite this, I'm planning on shrinking my military. I currently have two fleets, two armies, one air army, and two carrier air groups. My main challenge at this point is keeping happiness positive. Many of my cities are growing at an incredible rate, which contributes to unhappiness. The matter is further complicated by the relative lack of aluminum on this map. Stadiums require aluminum, and I need to conserve a lot of it for my military (I might be making cuts, but that's not the same as full disarmament).

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Have you considered sending your units into his territory and "gifting" them to your ally? A way to support allies without throwing your full weight into a war or being associated with the war?

Also General satisfy my curiosity. Why your preference for Russia?

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Funny. I have no memory of gifting being possible with anyone other than City-States. I'll have to check the next time I play. Then again, while I have a vested interest in my friends not getting crushed, I also don't want them to conquer their enemies.

As for why I prefer Russia, it's mostly because I've been interested in Russia for a long time, and the more I learn, the more my interest increases. It started for the most trivial of reasons when I was just five years old: Russia is the largest country in the world.

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Indeed it is but what else hooked you about Russia.

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Well, after the irrational interest that my five-year-old self gained in Russia, the alphabet kept me interested. After that, I started learning little bits about Russian history. For a long time, my interest in Russia was more akin to the stereotypical Japanophile's surface-level obsession with all things Japanese. I'd say I first started having a "true" interest in Russia in my late teenage years after being exposed to some Russian operas. From there, I guess something about Russian history, mixed with the language and music, just clicked with me. I can't safely say that I wouldn't have developed a similar interest in, say, French history had my initial childhood obsession been with France instead of Russia.

At this point, though, this discussion would probably be better continued elsewhere.

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I burned through Deus Ex: Human Revolution a few weeks ago and it was good, but not as good as the original Deus Ex. Right now I'm playing Final Fantasy VIII. It's alright.

I really wish I didn't give away my SNES...

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Finally played FNAF. Shortly after the second night started, Golden Freddy shows up in my office out of nowhere. Just...sitting there. I didn't even know what to do at that point, whether I could get rid of him somehow or if I was already screwed. So I just stared at him for a few seconds until he eventually jumped at me and crashed my game. Yep, good start.

Also got Neptunia Warriors Hyperdimension Neptunia U today. It's... Neptunia Warriors. The Neptunia girls in a Musou-styled game. Not too much else to say. It's fun if you like either of those things. Kind of funny how the first game was such a pain-in-the-ass RPG with screwy systems all around and it spawned this reasonably-sized series and handful of spin-offs.

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You probably got the Golden Freddy poster on one of the cams. When he's in your room, pick the camera up again.

C-A

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Finished To the moon today.

Its easy to see how it was lauded for its story though it makes me sad that in spite of the awards it gained it was still overlooked massively.

The game made me think a lot about autism really which I guess is its goal but there's so much to this story of an old mans last request. It's not much of a game and more of a narrative vehicle but what a ride it takes you on.

I can't recommend it enough. 10/10

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Going to try and complete Act 2 of Broken Age once I finish classes.

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Hyper Princess Pitch in Reallyjoel's mom difficulty.
Help please

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I'm currently playing Europa Universalis IV. The Grand Muscovite Principality has successfully conquered Novgorod and repulsed the Golden Horde. We now have access to the Baltic Sea and have begun building a fleet to protect trade.

As a side-note, one of the songs in the soundtrack contains a theme from the third movement of Autumn from Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons." Nice. That's my favorite movement.

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I restarted Pokémon Y with my previous Nuzlocke rule of 1 new Pokémon on each route. I admit, I bent that rule ONCE, only so I'd get an Eevee Lvl 19. And now I have a Sylveon and I'm in the Electricity Gym. I STILL can't figure out what all I have to do to use the Botique in Lumiose City... probably do a VR Video, too, or what not.

C-A

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Increase your style (details behind this link), but if you're trying to do it early game, it won't be worth it as the outfits there will be too expensive for you.

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