Hmm, I should review Mega Man 10, but I don't really know what I'd say
I'm sure you were just missing on purpose (a difficult feat to pull off since it was so hard to hit him accidentally!) lulling him false sense of security so the cleric could get an easy pity kill later on
"Mega Man 10: It sure is the 10th one! B-"
That's pretty much exactly what I was thinking, except I'd give it a B+
Of course, I give everything a B+
Let's be honest, my rating system is "Is it a B+ or an A-?" unless I played the game when I was 10 
Oh! I accidentally discovered the coolest part about MM10, which is the main reason it isn't a B-: the Wheel Cutter lets you climb walls
I actually re-ordered the bosses specifically to take advantage of this fact (it really helps in a few stages)
Also the game has a boss called the "Crab Puncher"
And a Weapons Archive featuring boss weapons from every previous game, which is pretty sweet too
Basically, in NFL terms, MM10 is Tim Tebow: Very high on intangibles, but his overall game isn't quite up to snuff
Ah, see I didn't know about the Wheel Cutter or it's campaign against STDs when I through out the B- rating
It also has a boss called "Strike Man" who is basically a giant robot baseball that throws balls at you
Speaking of Mega Man, Steve suggested we have a tournament of cold-based Mega Man bosses. I think there would be too many entrants
Wouldn't his name imply that he's throwing the balls past you instead of at you?
That's a good point, actually
His name should be more like "Forced Walk Man" or "Aggressive Pitcher Man" or something
Beanball Man
Why not an RTS with one side populated by flame themed bosses and the other populated by cold themed bosses
Oh, I finally shelled out $1.99 for a game on my phone
And it's proven to be totally worth it
Yeah my brother is obsessed with iPhone games
A basic puzzle game called Nintaii in which you manipulate a rectangular block into holes
And I just added them up, apparently fire and water are the most common in Mega Man (5 bosses each), compared to 4 for ice
But the interface is nice, the puzzles are good (though rarely killer I'm also only about 20% of the way through)
There are also four electric, five if you count Sheep Man, and water takes the cake with 6 if you count Toad Man (I was trying to stick with bosses whose names are also thematic, though)
Do you count Pharoah Man for fire?
I mean, his ability was basically shooting sun beams at you
No, because it's not entirely clear what his shot is - I always thought it seemed sort of sandy
Hmmm, I never even considered that
but fair enough
OTOH, he reminds me a lot of Solar Man, who I did include (and when you fight the Ring Man replica, he's vulnerable to the Solar Blaze, while in MM4 he was vulnerable to the Pharaoh Shot, so there's that)
lol I never considered the sun thing
I think you're right, actually
But if we include him, we have to include Toad Man, and water still pulls off the shocking upset
Fair enough
Of course, if you restrict the tally to "Something Man" bosses it's a tie, since Splash Woman is disqualified
Doesn't that just mean they're still tied though?
Toad Man brings water to 6 and Pharoah Man brings fire to 6?
Oh, right, yeah
Either way, I'm disappointed with the ice brigade
Though if you combine ice and water then water's kicking ass
what's the list for ice?
lol that's true... too bad there's no Steam Man
But I don't know if transubstantiated molecules count 
Ice Man, Blizzard Man, Freeze Man, and Chill Man
You could try to argue Flash Man if you want, but there's nothing icy about him except his stage
what about that penguin boss?
Interestingly, but not surprisingly, elemental-themed bosses aren't very common until MM6, at which point they're in almost every game
Chill Penguin? That's Mega Man X. Which I considered including, but then where does it end? There are literally almost (maybe more than) 100 Mega Man games among the various series
Well, I'm off for about 5 hours of meetings
ttyl
why is that not surprising? and what were the themes before that? I seem to recall 2 & 3 having strong elemental themes
Because they can re-use themes, MMX has a lot of fire and ice guys (hell, the first two games both have a Flame Something - Flame Mammoth and Flame Stag)
Ew, have fun I guess
3 had no elemental theme at all, the only boss related to any other boss is Spark Man
2 has Heat Man, Bubble Man, and Air Man... hey wait, it also has Wood Man and Metal Man. I never noticed that!
2 had that wood guy
and an under water board
IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW!
Anyway, after 2 the elemental stuff was pretty toned down until 6 (and X)
you're welcome
so what were the bosses in 3? it's been so long i don't remember
Actually wait, isn't air not one of the Chinese elements?
no, earth is not one of the chinese elements
Yeah, there should be some kind of earth man... which there isn't 
Oh OK
it's replaced by metal and wood
Then that's awesome, I totally never realized that
3 has Magnet Man, Hard Man, Top Man, Shadow Man, Spark Man, Snake Man, Gemini Man, and Needle Man
The most notable thing about 3 is that there's it's the last game without a legit eight-boss cycle (the first five are one cycle and hte last three another)
oh yeah, snake man
he was pretty useless
I think MM1 had a pretty clear cycle, while MM2 had the least cyclic boss order in the series. From 4 on there's a clear progression though, the only question is where to start
Which meant his weapon was good against the last boss, of course
That's a trend that started with MM2 and the Bubble Lead, and continues to this day
Although let me tell you: fighting Dr. Wily's capsule in low gravity makes the Chill Spike (which doesn't shoot very far) way easier to use
Well that was a productive lunch
oh? what did it produce?
A haircut, a sub, and a copy of FFXIII - at Gamestop without a preorder no less
I'm not sure I ever had a problem getting a new game from Gamestop without a preorder
Really? That's why I stopped going there. Not only would they never have new games, they'd insult me for thinking anyone would have it without a preorder
Interesting, the FFXIII guide isn't by BradyGames for the first time since the Playstation era... it's by Piggyback (the only thing I know they made was the Halo guides)
Seems pretty nice in any case
Just went and canceled my Amazon Prime membership, pretty much in the nick of time
Nice save
Oddly I'm canceling because the service is too good
I find myself buying all manner of stuff that I would usually pass up or hold off on
They announced Rock Band 3 and that it will (again) "revolutionize the genre"
But I have to be honest, I can't imagine what they could do that isn't just going to result in even more plastic crap
You say that like you don't love plastic crap.
I have no room for more plastic crap
And even if I did, I would not appreciate all my current plastic crap becoming obsolete
Well, I think RB2 taught us one thing: Jethro Tull songs were painfully missing a plastic flute to play them with
From rumors I've heard, plus the recent appearance of this, I suspect RB3 will have an actual working guitar or something quite like it
OTOH, I think there's a fair chance RB3 may actually make use of the separate drums and cymbals of the Ion set, and that would certainly be nice
In other Rock Band news, I don't know if anyone saw the South Park episode where Cartman was singing Lady Gaga in Rock Band, but next week not only is that song coming out, Cartman's version is coming out as well
In other non-Rock Band news, FFXIII starts on a train... I feel like I've seen that before somewhere!
Also, I am annoyed, now that I've noticed it, that they changed the side-of-the-packaging PS3 logo when the PS3 Slim came out... now my PS3 collection is inconsistent on a shelf! BOO
that's pretty skimpy
It really struck me as incredibly ridiculous, and not really in the aesthetic of the rest of the (first 20 minutes of the) game
I mean, even X-2 thief Rikku at least wore a skirt
it's been a while since i played X-2, but I recall Pain's bird form being the most risqué outfit
Wow, the way Vanille runs is way too ridiculous
oh?
I can't even really explain it, it's just... I guess it's a typical anime overdone preteen girl run, basically
I hope she's not the party leader very much, lol
so is FF finally becoming too japanese for you?
Nah, there's always that one character who's too Japanese, but you can usually ignore them
I also have no idea what her weapon is even supposed to be... antlers on a stick with four yo-yo's attached to the points? It's a mystery
Someone at Square Enix needs to discover the over-the-shoulder camera
OK, this game has a friggin' crazy advancement system
I think it's safe to say that this battle system is totally awesome
Wow, auto attacking is automatically tuned to exploit the weaknesses you are aware of, and you learn weaknesses by fighting... I think I designed this system once!
How is this not the sluttiest FF outfit? Even her thong is showing in this one.
Because she's wearing something over it
So, further FFXIII reaction: I never thought implementing one of the lamest features from Mystic Quest of all things would make an RPG better
But the fact that "game over" just places you outside the battle you died in is actually pretty awesome, because it let them make the battles legitimately difficult (and thus, interesting)
It's very easy to die in a battle that you could, with the exact same party and setup, completely own with the right tactics
That's cool. Spamming the attack button in RPG's has been played out, so it's nice to see them spicing up the battles a bit
That's typically why I like action RPG's instead of traditional RPGs
So, have you finished FFXIII yet?
Oh yeah, turns out it's only like four hours long
The battle system actually sort of encourages spamming one button (the auto attack button), at least in the early going - for the most part it's paradigm shifting that's important
It's a very macro-managed battle system... sort of like the difference between playing Total Annihilation and Command & Conquer
So if your encouraged to just spam auto-attack, what kind of challenging fights are you facing that requires different strategeries?
Well "auto attack" doesn't mean attack, it means the computer is choosing your specific attacks, presumably the same way they choose your other party members'
It's just faster to hit auto attack than Ruin-Attack-Attack - although if my ATB bar gets any longer I'll have plenty of time to choose attacks while it fills
But it's all about buffing against large groups, debuffing nasty monsters, healing when people are about to die, and maintaining damage chains the whole time
The whole "damage chain" thing really ties it all together, since otherwise you'd just set up DPS-DPS-Healer and chip away at everyone
As it is, that might work, but it would take ten times as long and be really boring
Damage chain is something like where you do more damage for maintaining a combo?
It might also stifle your advancement - you get rated after each battle (based mostly on speed), but I'm not sure if that determines CP (which is this game's XP)
Yeah each hit raises the damage per hit by a little bit - it starts at 100%, say against a particular monster each hit raises it by 1%, so after 20 hits you're doing 120% damage
Each monster also has a "stagger point," a certain percentage that, if you hit, the percent goes up by 100%, and you have a limited time to keep raising it and dish out ridiculous damage
Most of the bosses so far have had upwards of 90% HP until I staggered them, at which point I go buck wild and have gotten as high as 650% damage
And the way the bar works is, after each hit, it slowly drains back to 100%, but if you hit the monster before it's fully drained, it's reset to where it was
The net result being that you have to keep hitting them. And there are other considerations: Ravagers (magic DPS) raise the chain meter very quickly, but it also drains really fast (like really fast),...
While Commandos (physical DPS) don't raise it as much, but keep it from decaying, so it's easier to maintain the combo
So like, Ravager-Ravager-Ravager can quickly stagger monsters, but it's a risk since if they get interrupted, all the work might be for naught
At the very least, it's a good idea to have a Commando in your healing paradigm to make sure your chain doesn't go away
Crazyness
And the game has ghouls, ghasts, and wights! Not that they're anything like their D&D equivalents, but I don't think I've seen those in an FF since 4, maybe 5
Oh, and rumors of FFXIII's literal linearity have been greatly exaggerated... I mean, the game is super linear, but in the same way every other FF is. It reminds me of FFX
i remember when you pronounced FFX to be literally a straight line, and despite everything you believed about RPGs at the time, this was fantastic.
Well the world map is, but the individual areas weren't
The fear is that FFXIII's were, and there are some, but no more than usual
That said, they're both still a single path and may as well be straight
so given this, and given the article you posted the other day about how RPGs lost their way
do you think it's possible to create a modern RPG that feels like an old school game?
No
For JRPG's, though, I think this is an improvement
not a dragon warrior fan, eh?
Hey, I count early FF games among my favorites, but the structure of FFXII and FFXIII (so far) just strike me as... better
I mean, if nothing else, FFXIII's plot has been engaging and easy to follow so far, and I think limiting the world (so you don't need to justify visiting every town) helps in that regard
More to the point, the fun of a game like an Ultima is in discovering clues as to what to do, that's never been the good part of a JRPG
i guess that's what i'm asking - do you think a game like ultima could be made (and succeed) today?
It could be made (see: Avernum), but not as a "modern game"
The higher the fidelity, the harder it is to simulate an open world
Your best bet is something like GTA, where the world feels real, but you aren't exactly spending time information gathering
The need for graphical fidelity, voice acting, and the problem of scale are all pretty dire
if voice synth ever gets decent, that could solve one of those issues
but yeah, i see your point
i just downloaded the demo of the first avernum game
i'll try it out when i can get away from work for a bit
You should also try Geneforge from that company
I played through the demo of that and loved it . . . never got around to buying it though, I should see what it's selling for now
it appears to be $25, same as avernum
i'm going to stick to just trying avernum for now - if i like that, there's a lot of content to acquire
fair enough
BTW, just mentioning Dwarf Fortress to two of my friends has pretty much ruined their lives
I think for my friend Asa it's pretty much exactly the game he's always been looking for
He says that he'll be planning on turning it off, then some event will happen and he'll be like "oh, let me just deal with this quickly" . . . and then 3 hours go by
Also, I picked up the Underworld book for Exalted yesterday, and the Book of Exalts
The latter basically being a full sized softcover splat book just filled with NPCs of all different Exalt types and power levels
Well . . . kind of . . . . for those Exalt types where higher power levels make sense, you get those levels (e.g. Lunars and Sidereals).
Solars seem to all be Essence 2 or 3, Alchemicals the same thing
A few Abyssals are Essence 5
Generally very usable though, and better organized charm blocks than they've ever done before, which is nice
that's cool
and yeah, i hear you about dwarf fortress destroying lives
i've been religiously not touching it until i have more free time
man, i cannot get my brain started today
Hey Matt. I finally finished Fables 13, the crossover one. I was surprised about how large the repercussions of the end of this book will be in the Jack series, but there actually seems to be very little done on the Fables storyline
So I think this book can be pretty skippable if you want to pickup the series again from book 14
Yeah, we'll see how it goes
Actually, now that I think about it, the resolved so much of the jack line it's possible that they may have just folded the two series together
Ok, never mind. They do have another Jack book coming out.
Actually, actually, looking at Wikipedia, it's possibly they created another spin off series from that book call "The Literals" as book 13 is issues 83-85 from Fables, 33-35 from Jack, and 1-3 of "The Literals"
You know, if they really did give FFXIII a 25+ hour linear intro sequence "for the masses," I think they missed the part where the masses don't like hard games. I'm 7 hours in and Odin repeatedly kicked my ass, and I barely managed to pull off a victory
Sure, I might just be dumb, but if they're trying to get some random Modern Warfare player to play this, good luck with that
7 hours in and you're fighting Odin? Isn't that early for an FF game to pull him out? Are you sure you didn't skip part of your tube?
Eh, I fought Shiva like two hours before that (I'm not actually sure how I won that fight either)
I am curious to see what other summons are in the game, and whose they will be
Shiva is Snow's and Odin is Lightning's, so those weren't exactly rocket science
You fought Odin before Ifrit?
I don't even know that Ifrit is in the game (also, yes)
Wow
I just loaded up Penny Arcade, and initially thought the ad being displayed was some sort of RTS ad with power plants at the top of the screenshot
However, it is in fact an ad for a fantasy based strategy rpg
Power plants? Those are actually breasts
The ones for Immortal Empire?
yeah
It was a very surreal moment
The top banner or side one?
The side one
Was it the lightning nipple that did it?
I don't seem to be able to get it to load again
But it wasn't really a specific image, just the vague impression
I could imagine how confusing boobs and power plants could be a disconcertingly Dali moment
Bah why can't Google Docs rotate a pdf page 90 degrees
Adobe has a patent on rotating things 90 degrees
not just PDF - stuff in general
lol
I end up paying them about $5 every time I try to solve a rubik's cube
I guess that's why Commando Man has an Adobe logo on his weapon
I know almost nothing about FFXI, FFXIV, or WoW, but that sounds like a "The sky continues to be blue" kind of news announcement.
It's not, it would be downright shocking if FFXIV is anything like FFXI at this point, between what they've said and basic business sense
You should write to Square Enix and let them know they're doing it wrong then.
I saw something almost unbelievable in Best Buy the other day: an adapter so you can use your Logitech Harmony Remote on a PS3 (which is a great idea)... for $60 (which is not)
Isn't the PS2 IR remote, that would basically achieve the exact same thing, only $20? Or maybe even cheaper now?
The PS3 doesn't have an IR remote
But the PS3's Bluetooth remote is $25, so the point stands
With the PS2 IR remote, it included an IR dongle to plug into the PS2 that the Harmony remote would be able to use.
Does the PS3 not have ports to support the PS2 controllers?
The slim PS2 didn't need any attachments
Uh, no, where've you been?
You can, in theory, get a USB->PS2 converter, which might work with the remote, but at that point you may as well just buy the PS3 remote
Where have I been? Never anywhere near a PS3
Well then you shouldn't be making wild assumptions about it
