What Game/s are you Playing? Daily check :)2013 (GAMEPLAY)

[Aussie2B]

I'm still chugging along with Ys II via Legacy of Ys: Books I & II for DS. I have around 13 hours on the clock, I believe, and I just beat Lady Zava. I'm guessing I'm pretty close to the end of the game, considering my menu is nearly full and my HP is maxed out. It's been a good ride, although I think at the end of the day, I'll prefer the first Ys over Ys II. I'm guessing that probably goes against the norm, since most gamers just want more, more, more. More hours on the clock, more items to collect, more levels to gain, more people to interact with, etc., but I actually find the smaller, tighter adventure of the first game more refreshing. Well, either way, I've really enjoyed both. I am eager to finish, though. Separately, neither are long games, but played back-to-back, it's a fairly lengthy adventure for this genre. I've just about had my fill of Adol's escapades for the time being, but I do look forward to playing more Ys games in the future. Now I'm getting ahead of myself, though. First things first, I need to finish Ys II.

[Videogamerdaryll]

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (Nintendo, 1988)

Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (Nintendo, 1990)

[RPG_Fanatic]

I'm 31 hours into Animal Crossing New Leaf.

[needler420]

Snowboard kids.

It was one of the last games I got for $7 bucks. I played the game a lot as a kid. I think I rented it as well as owned it in my childhood.

Probably one of my favorite snowboarding games as well as a niche Atlus game. Back when I played it Atlus meant nothing to anyone. Now it stands behind a name.

[bigbacon]

Started playing Golden Ax Warrior and still playing through Govellius.

[Videogamerdaryll]

[Aussie2B]

Since my last post, I beat Ys II via Legacy of Ys: Books I & II for DS, so having finished with both games on the DS card, back to the shelf it goes.

After that, I tried a little of Hakuoki: Warriors of the Shinsengumi on PSP and Mega Man Zero Collection for DS, which are both recent purchases.

Starting up my next gaming commitment has been a bumpy road. I was thinking of finally playing through Fire Emblem: Monshou no Nazo on my modded model 2 SNES, or at least the half of the game that's a remake of the original Famicom game (like with Legacy of Ys, Monshou no Nazo contains two games that are often referred to as "Book I" and "Book II" as well; the first is a remake and the second is a brand new direct sequel). I played through a few battles over the course of a couple days, but when I got up to the 5th battle, I started getting problems with my SNES, which I've posted about in the Technical forum section. The problem seems to be the power supply, so until I figure out a fix or a replacement, it doesn't look like I'll be playing anything on SNES. Even though I can still get it to start up, the risk of losing power and, in turn, my progress is not something I want to deal with, as it was frustrating enough the first time.

Adding to my bad luck this week, I also came down with a cold, so that kinda of kills my desire for console gaming anyway. But it is a good opportunity to bust out my Game Boy Advance SP and play in bed, so I decided to start up The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. Believe it or not, this is the first time I'm playing to completion any Zelda game released after Ocarina of Time. I've beaten all the Zelda games released before it, but none after. Anyway, I just beat the second dungeon in the game. It's pretty derivative and easy but still fun enough. The Zelda series is kind of like comfort food these days. It's no fine cuisine and you know exactly what you're going to get and you've had it tons of times before, but it's still pretty enjoyable to go through the motions. I can see why The Minish Cap isn't often brought up as someone's favorite Zelda game or even among the best, but it's not a bad game. It's just a very blatant hodgepodge of ALttP, Link's Awakening, Ocarina of Time, and Wind Waker. Shrinking down is kind of a cool twist, although at its core, it's just yet another rendition of the light/dark world concept. I do like looking out for tiny paths and holes and stuff and figuring out how I'm going to get where I want to go given the limitations of each size, though.

[animus222]

I've been taking kind of a little break from modern games and been focusing on 16-bit classics, such as Super Hang-On for the Mega Drive/Genesis. I've forgotten how challenging that game can be!

[AMG]

I'm currently playing LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga.

[Aussie2B]

I just got the story-required kinstone I needed from the graveyard in The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap on my Game Boy Advance SP. I'm surprised at just how long this game is lasting me considering I've been playing pretty heavily, and it's only got, what, 5 or 6 real dungeons in total? I guess they took the Majora's Mask approach in that there aren't many full-fledged dungeons but there's TONS of stuff to do with all the NPCs and on the overworld (even with the overworld also being kind of small). The time I've spent in the dungeons is just a sliver compared to all the time I've spent dinking around town, fusing kinstones, chasing after the results of kinstone fusions, collecting figurines, seeing what I can discover on the overworld with new tools, etc. etc. I can see why some people who rush through the game doing the bare minimum might be disappointed, but as a completionist, I think the game has plenty of meat to it. When I compare it to ALttP, which I beat for the first time just a couple years ago, that game has far more dungeons, but I blew through that game lightning quick, even with getting 100%. I think this game will be a little more memorable to me, as sacrilegious as that may sound to diehard ALttP fans, if only due to the length and its personality. I like how, like Link's Awakening, The Minish Cap has its own unique plot and, to some extent, setting. It may be Hyrule yet again and many of the characters are recycled from older Zelda games, but all the Picori stuff makes it feel like some sort of bizarro, parallel Hyrule (no, I don't care if or how it fits into the Zelda timeline). The NPCs have a lot of personality too. How nicely animated the game is contributes a lot to that, although there are also other little details like the goofy descriptions for the figurines. I gotta give the Zelda games one thing--since ALttP and, even more so, Link's Awakening, the localizations of these games are just fantastic. The silly gags, the fourth wall breaking, the lively delivery of lines, it all brings a lot of life to the games.

[Aussie2B]

I'm nearly ready to beat The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap on my Game Boy Advance SP; I'm just working on collecting the odds and ends I'm missing. I finished my figurine collection and got all the heart pieces as well, but I have two missing kinstone fusions and I imagine those are gonna drive me crazy to find (not in Hyrule town, nor the Minish forest town, nor the Minish mountain town, and I'm all but certain that they're not red or blue fusions so these last two can literally be any random NPC hidden in some annoyingly out-of-the-way corner of the world). I don't know why I'm really bothering, though, because I'm screwed out of a 100% file anyway. I can't get the Mirror Shield to begin with, since that requires beating the game multiple times over, and I'm screwed out of the Light Arrows because I didn't save the possessed old man within the time window it was available. The extra annoying part is that I visited him multiple times over, and I never thought to try my Gust Jar. I stupidly assumed the ghost was just an irremovable part of his sprite. I was assuming that either a kinstone fusion would save him or something would change as the story went along. I never imagined that I would be completely cut off from getting an item after a certain point in the story, and I feel that's got to be the worst, stupidest thing this game does because it goes against everything that Zelda stands for. I don't know if any other Zelda games do this kind of crap, but this series is supposed to be about the spirit of exploration and as long as you're smart enough to discover something, figure out how to get it, and have the necessary tools and skills to pull it off, you should be able to acquire everything, whether it's the beginning of the game or the end. Other than my base complaints on the game of it being too easy and too derivative of past Zelda games, which I can largely overlook because a game doesn't necessarily have to be challenging and innovative to be good, solid fun (and, really, almost every Zelda game is guilty of these two charges anyway, and games that are difficult and innovative aren't always well-executed and fun), this time-sensitive crap is the only thing that's really soured my opinion of the game. I've still enjoyed myself, but it's a shame that they included this idiotic frustration just to annoy completionists and sell strategy guides (and I actually do own the official guide and had been looking at it a tiny bit, but I wanted to first try to get as much on my own as I could before really using it).

[The 1 2 P]

Mostly COD: BOII multiplayer. But I'm going to finish the campaign soon and then I'll be playing thru the Japanese version of Alan Wake. I've had it for a few months but have just been alittle too busy to dive into it yet.

[Aussie2B]

Well, I'm all done with The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap on my Game Boy Advance SP. Turns out the official guide was wrong about a couple things. I did get the Mirror Shield since it only requires beating the game once, saving, then reloading your file. I also was wrong in thinking I had all the figurines, as six more became available after beating the game too. I wish the guide was wrong about the Light Arrows, but, nope, I really did miss out on those. I got everything else, though. I kind of lucked out in getting the last few things. I completely stumbled across the last heart piece I needed, since none were jumping out at me as missing from the descriptions, so that saved me the trouble of rechecking all of them one by one. I wandered around a lot trying to find my two missing kinstone fusions, but when I finally stumbled across one, I was very happy to learn that the same NPC had both of them. I figured they'd be with two different characters and that my search would continue after the second to last. The rewards for getting every figurine and fusion are completely worthless, though. I'm not even talking worthless in a practical sense, like getting rupees when you don't need them anymore or something like that, I mean LITERALLY useless. The Tingle Trophy and Carlov Medal literally do nothing. They just replace the sprites for your kinstone bag and mysterious shells in your menu. But my OCD completionist nature isn't impacted by what rewards, if any, I get. :P

Anyway, I've yet to start up my next gaming commitment and I still can't return to my SNES gaming, but I did try out Rune Factory for DS, which I recently bought. Boy, are the polygonal models UGLY in this game, and their animations are atrocious. They don't even look human. They look like they have robot arms or something. The rest of the game looks nice enough, though, and it seems like something I'd have fun with once I really sit down with it. After all, I'm already a big fan of Harvest Moon, and I love RPGs and adventure games as well. The combination seems promising.

[needler420]

I am playing Grand Turismo 5. I love going fast it makes my heart race. vroom vroom

[Flashback2012]

World of Warcraft regularly
Started on Project X Zone, it's the first time in forever that my 3DS has gotten some actual use. I still play some Sudoku Gridmaster before bed.

[Videogamerdaryll]

Nes

pinball

[JakeM]

Nes

pinball

How fun is that?

I know theres an interesting creepy looking pinball game on the PC Engine, but Ive never been into Pin Ball Machines or video games. I hope its fun.

[thegamezmaster]

Colecovision H.E.R.O. Just got a copy again and one of my favorites from back in the day. Never get tired of it.

[Gunstar Hero]

I've been playing a lot of Sonic CD. It's a really deep game when you play it I love it!

[rkotm]

Resident Evil 2, PLaystation. Only way it was meant to be played, with a PS1 dual shock and jaggy polys