No More Heroes is an awesome game. It's an experience like no other game. And if you like it, then the sequel is quite good, too. I wasn't disappointed with dropping 50 bucks on it.

I'm in my 40th hour of Final Fantasy Tactics:

I'm at the beginning of Chapter 3. I'm probably overleveled.

My team is L30 and is:

Ramza - Lancer
Battle Skills (Master Knight)
Dragoon Spirit
Concentrate
Move +2

Cedric - Monk
Item (X-Potion, Ether, Phoenix Down, Auto-Potion, Remedy)/Elemental (Mastered)
Hamedo
Physical Attack Up
Move +1

Boyce - Summoner (missing 3 spells)
Basic Skill (Master)
MP Restore
Short Charge
Move +1

Barsia - Time Mage (Haste 2, Quick, Meteor)
White Magic (Holy, Cure 3, Esuna, Wall)
Counter Tackle
Short Charge
Teleport

Agrias - Knight
Holy Knight (Mastered)
Weapon Guard
Concentrate
Move +1

I've just been playing Punch Out on the Wii, and am having an absolute blast with it.

Well, one of the used games I got was badly scratched, and the store didn't have more of the same game so I took No More Heroes 2.
I really liked it, but it left me with a feeling of disappointment in some areas. Still, I'm planning on replaying each one (To get all the masks on the first one and to buy all the clothes on the second)

I also managed to get at least 1 star rank in Mario Kart, earning finally Rosalina (Which I don't think I'll use anyway. Light FTW!) and a feeling of accomplishment I haven't feel in a while (video gaming related, I mean)

So me and the guys picked Left 4 Dead 2 back up last week. The reason is because they are doing weekly "mutations" which are game modes that stick around for a week and then are replaced with something else. It's nothing like a new game mechanic... but more like challenges. This week's mutation was called The Four Swordsmen. In which you were only given a katana. No guns. But there were no zombies... instead there was a crap ton of special infected. In one instance we saw just about every single special infected running towards us at one time... it was hectic to say the least. Tomorrow a new mutation is going up, so we're looking forward to that.

In other news, I've finally made a lot of progress in Tales of Vesperia. And I must say that this is probably the best RPG for the 360. Not that that's saying much what with the lack of RPGs in general. But even then, this is a really good game. And I have to thank ShadowFox for giving me a hard time till I finally got it and started playing it. I highly recommend it.

And other than that, I've just been poking around at the newly released Sonic 2 romhack: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=9049 Sheer awesomness and insanely funny.

Been playing Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker for the PSP lately, and I must say it is awesome. It's the first game Hideo Kojima has been involved in for the PSP, and it doesn't feel any different than a console MGS game, even with the single PSP joystick.

The game follows Naked Snake (Big Boss) ten years after MGS3, as he and Kazuhira Miller (Master Miller from Metal Gear Solid) attempt put a stop to a new CIA weapon known as Peace Walker, a bipedal, AI controlled vehicle capable of launching a nuke from any spot on the planet.

It shows the origins of the Metal Gear machines, with Peace Walker being the first.

The game is also about recruiting new soldiers for Snake's base, Outer Heaven.

So yeah, tons of references to other Metal Gear Solid games if you are interested. I really like it, atleast as much as some of the console games.

i just picked up some new games.

im several hours into ff13 and i have no f*cking clue whats going on. the plot is so all over the place with random names and plot development. for the first few hours i was tossed around from one group of members to another and now im stuck reading endless amounts of text to figure out what im even doing. the first few hours have no relevance to my characters as far as leveling up - if you can even call it that.

overall im satisfied with the pretty pictures and the combat design is innovative. some battles feel like a challenge but i can die at any moment without much consequence other then being reset outside of battle. time will tell if this is a winner.

ps, i love the chocobo in that black dudes fro!

Go into the documents, there should be a bio entry for Sazh's chocobo. It's pretty sweet.

Oh, and don't expect much to change from the way things are going in the plot. And you're going to continue to get thrown from party to party till chapter 11. Have fun.

@ Karr: There is no random names or random plot development. Everything ties together seamlessly - the only problem is that you are forced to keep track of everything on your own by controlling multiple different parties in different locations for the first half (or more, depending on how quickly you push through it) of the game. This is why you are given an in game encyclopedia that chronicles every single detail of the game for you.

If you can't keep track of everything on your own and you're not making use of it, then well, that's your fault.

Also, all the CP you earn when controlling one party is also given to every single character you ever control in the game. If you earn 30k CP while controlling Sazh and Vanille, even if you don't have access to the other characters, everybody else also gets 30k and you will get to use it once you regain control of them.

In other words, every minute of combat has relevance for the leveling of every character.

Also, what sort of consequence do you want when you die? Do you play Everquest and enjoy losing all your gear and getting sent to some city and forced to walk your ass all the way back to your corpse hoping you don't die again on the way, and also lose XP each time you die? Do you prefer getting a game over screen and wasting time reloading your save? Or, perhaps, do you enjoy having the game auto-reload your save so you lose out on time spent playing the game because you have to A) walk back to wherever it was you died to continue the plot and B) redo all the stuff you did since your last save, both of which you'd have to do regardless of whether or not you manually or automatically have your save reloaded?

If anything, 13 has one of the better ways of handling combat deaths. Unlike SMRPG, there's no strategically advantageous reason you would want to run into things and intentionally die because everything resets back to what it was before you died*. Unlike any form of reloading the game, you don't lose time spent playing or potentially break any of the mood the game had set because you get spawned again right before the fight where you died.

There's no reason to hate on it, from what I can see.

* Although there is a way to exploit this to avoid fights using shrouds, without consuming a shroud.

if the plot is convoluted then thats definitely the fault of the game designers for not making it clear and precise. even with the supplementary documentation which i have mostly kept up to date on so far the plot still feels confused. it is starting to come together now that im on the second disk. part of the issue is that there is so many names that are close together, i think they are speaking of one group then realize that its the name of some other group thats on the opposite side or something.

i do like the cp being communally gained. i dont even have to survive the battle with all members standing, i still get experience even for fallen comrades. now that im decently into the game im enjoying the challenge that more of the battles possess. i prefer my game to have consequences for dieing, making that last minute save exciting. clearly im not masochistic, who wants to restart from a death hours back, but i want some form of punishment other then just being tossed outside of battle. with the slow ramping up of individual battle difficulty this appears to justify the mechanic.

the worst is still the strait line of events, giving you nearly always one single path to travel without deviation. any extra paths you do take are exceedingly short. im an explorer, so i want to see everything and explore every nook and cranny, not just walk for 30 hours in a single direction.

You get your wish once you leave Cocoon.

Also, I found everything easy to follow even with being tossed around from party to party & without using the encyclopedia.

They didn't make it hard to follow at all. Some people, like you apparently, may have issues with it but it's really simple. ~____~

I finally beat Final Fantasy Tactics. Took about 55 hours.

Here's my final team setup with everyone L43:

Ramza - Squire
Battle Skills (Master Knight)
Auto-Potion
2 Swords (Save the Queen/Ragnarok)
Move +2

Cedric - Monk (Master)
Item (only missing Elixir/Maintenance)
Hamedo
Throw Item
Move +2

Boyce - Black Mage
Summoner (Master)
Auto-Potion
Short Charge
Move +1

Barsia - Time Mage (Haste 2, Quick, Meteor)
White Magic (Master)
Auto-Potion
Short Charge
Teleport

Awesome McAwesome (spoiler) - Holy Knight (Only missing couple)
Item
Counter Tackle
Defend
Move +1

The fact that you mention Holy Knight kind of gives away who he is already. Besides, I don't think there's anyone here now that's going to play through Final Fantasy Tactics that hasn't already done so.

Anyways, congrats. I hope you enjoyed the game. This is one of my favorite games of all times and would definitely be one of my "stranded on an island" games.

And I just recently finished Tales of Vesperia. And I am really impressed. It's the best RPG I've played in quite a long time. I definitely see myself playing this through a good few times just like older RPGs way back when.

And seeing as I don't have any of the next few games on my list, I'll probably play Prey.

Aren't you glad I suggested it to you and forced you to get it?

I still haven't played FFT.

Convince me to.

its easily very high on my top 5 list, and one of the few games ive put over 200 hours into with multiple plays and single play through mastering it. i guess i like the customization the most and the plot is good also. maybe some of its nostalgia too, that gets me on occasion.

A lot of new games

I re-purchased Eternal Darkness. I bought it many years ago and didn't really get into it, but I gave it another shot and am enjoying it much more this time around. What a difference widescreen and 480p can do for a game. I usually don't play survival horror, the only ones I've played a lot of are Fatal Frame and Resident Evil 4, but this game is a blast.

For something completely different, I also got Sakura Wars, which is almost the complete opposite, and very enjoyable.

Others:
Mega Man Anniversery Collection (another repurchase)
Mega Man X Collection (Almost beat X1 and X2)
Dark Cloud 2 (Haven't gotten far, isn't entertaining yet.)
King of Fighter XI (Got it for a buck. Not my kind of game, but who can argue for that price?)

Been playing Tales of Vesperia for the last few days, trying to make my most complete file yet (though not 100%... f*ck). Right now, I've gotten to the 200 man melee, which can only be done AFTER you beat the game. Well, I've beaten it with everyone except Karol. Rita and Judith were the toughest to use because Rita has uber sh*t defense and by the time you get to the 80-100 man range, she starts losing her blue shield (guard shield). Granted, I was at level 94 with her and almost 7000 HP and maxed out TP. I had to go through this about 6 times just to win. Dhaos and Barbatos are a bunch of negroes that chain way too much and do more damage than necessary, especially Barbatos. When you use an item when Barbatos appears, he will instantly use his Mystic Arte, even if he is not in overlimit, which is complete horseshit. Then Judith was a pain in the ass because her only true group attack is the worst group attack for an single character. It's range is very limited and sometimes misses flying monsters. She is intended to be a one-on-one type of fighter, even more so than Yuri (which I couldn't believe). I had to redo it multiple times, first time by dying against (you guessed it, Barbatos), the next I got stoned, then I ran out of time, then I got wrecked by Kratos, then I came back and finally won.

Now i'm up with only Karol (the kid) left. I hate the kid, but he's one of the easier ones to use in the early goings. However he gets worse on the back stretch because he's so damn slow. I managed to get past Barabtos due to my near max HP on Karol. However, I had killed 192 enemies in the tournament then got stone slashed by a Giant Mantis and lost because I got stoned. I swear to God, having stoning enemies in a ONE fighter tournament is dumb as hell. They know full well you can't recover from it, so why put them in there? It's such a cheap ass way to lose.

Which is one of the many complaints I had with Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core. In a one-man party, enemies all over the game have death spells.

Anyways, I may take Rachael's file (since it's now on the second playthrough from my original file) and try some of this sometime.

If Rachael follows the guide she's using correctly, you have to beat the game first, then save after the credits, then once you get back to the title screen, choose "Continue" instead of EX Game. Load that file and you'll be back at the final dungeon. Then you have to follow the guide.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/xbox360/945075- ... faqs/54222

This is the one I'm using. Follow it and you can get the secret dungeon and the 200 man melee. I tell you, the 200 man melee is a b*tch. However, since you've used the Grade shop, it might make it a little easier.

Decided to get my own Backloggery account. (See sig. Clicking of course leads to the account in question.) I've apparently beaten a lot more games than I've realized. I've also apparently gotten rid of a lot more games than I'd like to admit, and the list isn't complete, yet!

Super Paper Mario's gonna take a while to beat. I'm not enjoying it that much. The 2D-3D swapping is more a hindrance than a benefit.
Whispers in the Woods... You'll be able to see my progress in that, if I ever get around to finishing editing the first LPisode. >_<
Super Mario Galaxy 2 is a blast. Can't say it's quite as good as Galaxy 1, but I'm finding myself quite motivated to go for 100%.