What video game are you playing?

[IrishLion]

I will say that I played "Binding Blade" via ROM and english patch, and it's even more difficult, though the class system isn't quite as refined. Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade

Apparently all of the Japanese-only releases are way more difficult... they don't think much of NA gamers lol.

I also played "Sacred Stones" (the second NA FE release, also GBA) via ROM, it was deeper and entertaining, but the story wasn't as good. It was a totally fresh cast of characters and set in a different world.

 

[ulukinatme]

@ulukinatme I started with the first FE game released in NA, just titled "Fire Emblem" in North America, released for GBA in 2004. In FE culture, everyone knows it by the Japanese title, "Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade" Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade ... I'd start there for a standard intro to the series.

It might still be my GOAT strategy game. The levels are massive at times, and it is legitimately challenging to play Hard mode when you're going in blind. It's got all of the classic turn-based strategy mechanics, a deep-ish class system, separate weapons triangles for melee and magic users, and a legitimately good political story.

The main characters/heroes are Eliwood, Hector and Lynn. In the lore, Eliwood is Roy's father, and the game is actually a prequel to Roy's game ("Binding Blade" which was not released in NA).

Chapters 1-10 focus on Lynn, then you can pick to play as Eliwood or Hector starting at Chapter 11. Lynn and her party are reintroduced several chapters later.

Although Eliwood is the "main" character (he is Roy's father), and you have to beat the game playing as Eliwood to unlock Hector mode, most people consider Hector Hard Mode to be the complete experience, as there are two or three extra standard chapters, extra bonus chapters if you hit certain goals during the preceding chapter, and two or three extra recruitable characters that kick ass.

I've probably replayed it once a year since 2004, and Hector Hard Mode still presents a challenge during certain chapters, when you're trying to hit those goals to unlock the epilogues.

I'm fairly certain I've got it on my Raspberry Pi, I've got an extensive GBA library there, but I'll have to check. Thanks for the input. It sounds a lot like Final Fantasy: Tactics or Ogre Battle, and I love me some of those.

 

[ulukinatme]

I will say that I played "Binding Blade" via ROM and english patch, and it's even more difficult, though the class system isn't quite as refined. Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade

Apparently all of the Japanese-only releases are way more difficult... they don't think much of NA gamers lol.

I also played "Sacred Stones" (the second NA FE release, also GBA) via ROM, it was deeper and entertaining, but the story wasn't as good. It was a totally fresh cast of characters and set in a different world.

That's because many NA gamers are simpletons. They have short attention spans, which is why they fell in love with games like Kingdom Hearts where there's lots of button mashing to keep them engaged lol. Square Enix saw this and they tailored the Final Fantasy franchise to these kinds of players in NA, making the newer games all button mashy while leaving the traditional Dragon Quest series as turn based.

 

[dublinirish]

cant wait to play this

 

[ulukinatme]

cant wait to play this

Damn, how did Joe make it back from Skyrim?!

 

[ACamp1900]

I laughed, thought it was worth sharing,….

 

[ulukinatme]

Alright, finally finished Kingdom Come Deliverance and all the DLC. I enjoyed it quite a bit, loved the feudal lifestyle and although the politics were a bit drawn out at times it had a decent story. I thought the game did a great job tying things up at the end, sending you off to all the various villages one more time in search of beer...and then a final ride at the end before the Epilogue so that it all came full circle.

I'll say that some quest lines were a bit troublesome. Hans Capon can suck a dick, the hoops one had to go through to convince a village they were being haunted...woof. Decent payoff I guess, and the finale upon turn in was amusing. I really enjoyed the Band of Bastards DLC though, and the Madonna of Sasau. The Monastery quest line was interesting too in the main story, although the Circator's patrolling the hallways were a real pain in the ass once I exhausted all my Speech options with them...I would have avoided them more had I known 3 strikes and you're out. They were a bit buggy at times too, I had one come up to me and throw me in the clink while attending mass like I was supposed to!

I still think the combat is a bit clanky at times, but once you get your first decent set of armor it really doesn't matter much. Getting Perfect Ripostes almost feels like cheating, unless you've got 3+ guys coming after you in which case it can save you a bit. I kind of wish I spent more time with Archery early on, a decent bow and improved arrows can thin a pack of enemies quickly before a skirmish. I would have liked a bit more rogue-like missions, like the Night Raid on Thalmberg. I maxed out my Stealth and concealment early only to rarely get the opportunity to use them in missions! The large skirmishes at the end were fun, it was easy enough just to let the pawns engage the enemy and then start stabbing the bad guys in the back while they were engaged.

Overall great game, definitely worth a playthrough. I'm not sure there's a lot of reason to replay just yet, although the prospect of a more virtuous Henry could be fun...less killing, less screwing, less stealing. My reputation was already pretty exemplary though, so it would only be for the challenge.

 

[ACamp1900]

I’m about halfway even though I started first,… because I have a life,… but it is a great game. I’m getting The Show on Friday however so I may not finish it any time soon. I’m one of those who claims superiority over simps like Ulk,… then baseball comes and I dwell in a cave and make him look golden for three months……..


I actually am living the virtuous Henry life for the most part though,…I only stole at the beginning or when a quest demanded it and I don’t murder or cheat on T,… mainly bc her long neck scares me.

 

[dublinirish]

really glad you guys gave KCD a spin. I've always loved it and remember being so excited for it during its Kickstarter phase. Looking forward to the eventual sequel whenever it releases

 

[ulukinatme]

really glad you guys gave KCD a spin. I've always loved it and remember being so excited for it during its Kickstarter phase. Looking forward to the eventual sequel whenever it releases

Yeah, I saw there were some leaks about the sequel recently. They need to get on that.

 

[dublinirish]

cant wait to play this

 

[dublinirish]

 

[KyfightingIrish36]

Really enjoying the game so far. Love that base hits are back in the game.

 

[ACamp1900]

Bought the game this weekend... still haven't had a chance to play it however...

 

[IrishSpartan]

Been replaying nioh2, I love that game. Probably has the best combat system in its genre.

 

[dublinirish]

The fucking plot of Avatar haha

 

[ColinKSU]

Playing RE4 Remake, but realizing that I'm not the same person at 38 as I was when I beat the original at 20. This game's giving me ANXIETY anxiety.

 

[ACamp1900]

The Show.

 

[ACamp1900]

Warzone 2.0 if any of you want to team up,…

Name is acampBoninRackem’sMom

 

[ulukinatme]

I basically finished Brigandine: Legend of Runersia. It was a nice callback to the old PS1 Brigandine game. I enjoyed that one, and it was always a favorite of my brother's and I thought I'd use his Christmas Steam gift card to try the new one out. I was surprised that not much had changed from a technical standpoint, not a whole lot added. The combat, which was always excellent, was basically identical to the original which was a standard hex map with turn based strategy game. Monsters and leaders level up and can evolve or promote to stronger classes, with different trees for some creatures and knights. The strategy part is fun, there's a bit of chess in determining how best to move your pieces to both maximize offensive abilities and protect your characters. For the most part classes are well balanced, and "Rune Power" limitations on your knights and leaders prevents you from stacking some teams too heavily.

So the combat portion is rather fun along with building up your nation, however the story is a bit lacking. To be fair it's mostly a translation originally from Japanese and I think some of the concepts didn't work too well in localization, but overall the story isn't what drove the original game either. There's six different nations you can play as, and each nation has it's own reasons for wanting to conqueror the continent. Everyone is the bad guy, until you play another country and see things through their perspective. There's plenty of politics, but the character development is pretty lacking given the rather large number of knights each nation has. I played through three of the campaigns and did a Challenge Mode run, but didn't feel the need to play through the other three. The Challenge Mode was actually really nice. You start off with just one base and everyone in the game is Level 1, forcing you to build from the ground up. As you complete Seasons the enemy starts leveling up faster, which adds to the challenge.

There is a New Game+ mode where you can carry some items over to a new playthrough. There's also a Custom campaign where you can choose from any Knights you've previously unlocked to make your own nation. You can also tweak the difficulty and add or remove starting bases to make things easier or more difficult for yourself. As an overall game I'd give it a C+ due to the large roster and lack of story/character development, but if Turn Based Strategy games are your thing I'd rank it as a B/B+. There's some replay ability, and there's plenty of ways to crank up the difficulty to add a challenge.




Next up: Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. I've already moved onto that one and I'm deep into it.

 

[Cackalacky2.0]

Starting Jedi FO II

 

[ACamp1900]

Is anyone actually on Warzone??

 

[IrishLion]

Starting Jedi FO II

I got a platinum on the HP game. I’ve gone back to AC: Valhalla to get my last four (pain in the ass) trophies to platinum that one.

Then I’m debating on whether I start Horizon: Forbidden West or Jedi: Survivor.

 

[Cackalacky2.0]

I got through the story on Hogwarts which was fun and good but I’ve got over half the map left to explore but it’s nothing more than all the little puzzles and Merlin trials so not much to do

I did the first quest for Jedi Survivor and I’m liking it. Some nice improvements already

 

[IrishLion]

I got through the story on Hogwarts which was fun and good but I’ve got over half the map left to explore but it’s nothing more than all the little puzzles and Merlin trials so not much to do

I did the first quest for Jedi Survivor and I’m liking it. Some nice improvements already

I knew I wanted the platinum, and I knew there were 90+ Merlin trials from reading about the game early on, so I did like 10 every night when I knew I was done playing, just to knock them out between story-mission sessions. Quite the busy work, and not a lot of rhyme or reason to them. Some take less than a minute to solve, while others felt like punishment.

The REAL pain in the ass, though, was realizing that I was missing 3 out of 96 or whatever the number is, and didn't have any icons left on the map... had to fly my broom over the entire map, edge-to-edge, casting Revelio everywhere every 5 seconds, just to find them. And of course, all three were literally the three closest trials to Hogwarts, in the hills to the northwest of the castle. Should've spotted them way early, but I guess I didn't have to explore that way for anything in the early stages.

 

[NorthDakota]

Is anyone actually on Warzone??

I'm horrible at it

 

[ACamp1900]

I'm horrible at it

No doubt

 

[ulukinatme]

Is anyone actually on Warzone??

I am.

 

[calvegas04]

Is anyone actually on Warzone??

We play DMZ, it is addicting and infuriating

 

[ACamp1900]

We play DMZ, it is addicting and infuriating

Same,… I take it you have a team?