toxicitizen

Lol. Yeah, saw that earlier. Looks like I was spot on...

Oh yeah, I remember the Catherine one. What makes it even more baffling is that they sent a tease through their newsletter very soon after. Like, less than a week later, I think. I just can't comprehend what they could possibly have gained from that one. They knew their fans wanted the game so it just seems like toying with them for no reason.

Yeah, I think not just lying but lying about something like DLC, which can be a really touchy subject, was downright stupid of them. It's one thing to lie about "Yeah, no, we're totally not showing that rumored game at E3 next week " but when you say something along the lines of "No, we're not planning DLC. We're focused on giving you a complete package" then you announce a bunch of DLC a few weeks later, it just makes you look bad.

Not one but three DLCs announced for Dark Souls II. Season pass is already live on Steam for 25$. I'm not going to lie, this kind of bothers me a little. Not that there is DLC at all but that they blatantly lied about its existence. Not so long ago, someone from From completely dismissed the mere suggestion of DLC when asked about it. This is coming out pretty soon, so clearly it's been in development for some time. I don't know, just kinda makes me want to not pay full price for it out of principle. I'm already done with the game and moved on anyway, so I guess I'll just wait until they've all come out and get it on sale.

Microsoft: - I see it going one of two ways: either they actually get their head out of their ass and show good new games or they go full retard and double down on all that multimedia crap no one cares about. I kinda hope it's the latter because, honestly, I really enjoyed the slow-motion train wreck they had going last year. Come on, Microsoft! Tell us all about how you totally still got TV! - Rumors of Platinum exclusive will turn out to be true, if only because that would annoy the shit out of me. - Will also probably have bought at least another exclusive that will piss me off. Sony: - The Last Guardian now a PS4 title. Still never coming out. - Uncharted PS4 gameplay reveal - God of War PS4 (was already teased on twitter, what remains to be seen is whether it's a PS3 Remaster or a new title) - At least 3 new AAA exclusives - Will barely acknowledge the Vita during their presser and if they do it'll be as a glorified PS4 accessory Nintendo: - Will further dig themselves into that hole of theirs. - Will find new ways to become irrelevant - Will not announce a new Metroid because, you know, people would actually be excited about that - Fire Emblem x Shin Megami Tensei still M.I.A. Not a chance in hell/wishful thinking: - Bravely Default and Shin Megami Tensei IV Vita ports announced - Halo Collection coming to PC alongside Xbone release - Persona 5 details

Also, looks like it slipped to 2015.

I've been meaning to get Dragon's Crown for a while and finally decided to go for it since it was on sale and I've pretty much exhausted my backlog of physical Vita games. Ys just happened to also be on sale. It's the lowest I've ever seen it go for and I've been getting the impression that it's getting harder to find (seems to only be available from marketplace sellers on Amazon.ca and most of them are a tad overpriced) so I figured I might as well grab it now.

I started playing Tales of Symphonia a couple days ago. It's not a bad game by any means but man, the story is boring the shit out of me. :/ The opening was fine but now, a little under 10 hours in, there's only been one other section so far where it was actually interesting. Otherwise, most of the time the characters are talking and all I can think is "Oh my god, I don't care!!". I really hope it picks up soon because otherwise I don't think I could endure 50 hours of this shit. It's kind of a shame because the combat is kinda fun. If the story was more compelling, I could see myself really getting into it. I've been trying to soldier on and keep playing in hope that it gets better but I always end up turning it off and going back to grind in Disgaea 3 instead...

Yeah, neither did I. When I started seeing people sharing builds with the same functions twice in it, I spent a good 20mins trying to figure out how the fuck they did it only to give up in frustration. Then a few levels later I unlocked my first duplicate and just went "oh..." lol. Jaunt() is a good pick, yeah. Void() as well, once as passive and once as upgrade for maximum damage. Think I got Ping() as well. Most OP combo I've used so far was Tap()+Void()+Ping(). Lifedrain, decent damage and you can queue up like 5 of them. Works wonders in a pinch, I barely ever overload since I started using it.

I've seen a few builds online that people referred to as being "easy mode", might wanna look into one of those. Honestly, even a single OP ability can make a world of difference. Then, a little ways into NG+, you can start unlocking function duplicates so you can use stuff like void() as a passive and also as an upgrade. Some of them are really useful to have twice.

Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention. Man, I'm on fire lately. That was pretty much the last unfinished game I had to beat. I had played through a good chunk of the story when I first bought it a couple months ago but then I got busy and just kinda forgot about it. Finally got around to playing the last few chapters. I had already played the PS3 version but, as expected, the game just feels so much better on a handheld. The story is the same ridiculous sappy crap but it looks a lot better on a small screen. It's not like the game's very basic visuals really benefited from being displayed on a big screen in the first place but, for some reason that is beyond me, when they made this one they somehow figured that they didn't need to create HD sprites. So it just looks like blurry shit on PS3. It wouldn't be far-fetched to look at the PS3 version and wonder if you accidentally put in a PS2 disc. The Vita's OLED is much kinder to it in that regard. I was planning on starting Tales of Symphonia as soon as I was done with it but now I'm kinda tempted to just dig into the post-game stuff. There's always a ton of post-game shit to do in Disgaea but this version also includes all of the PS3's DLC, so there's probably another 30+ hours in there even if I don't try to go for the absolute hardest hidden boss.

Yep. I think we're done here.

Just watched the first Persona 3 movie, Spring of Birth. It's a pretty faithful adaption so far. I really liked it but I'm not sure how someone who hasn't played the game would feel. I mean, I've been watching the Persona 4 anime as well and, while I'm enjoying it, I can't help but feel like I'd think it was shit if I wasn't already familiar with the series, story and characters.

When someone says blockbusters, I think more along the lines of big summer movies rather than strictly financially successful ones. i.e. Transformers, Marvel, etc... Not all of them will necessarily be good or even financial successes. Same goes for AAA games. It's not a perfect analogy but it works.

Persona 4 Arena. Just finished the story mode. It's a great fighting game but I was in it primarily for the story and... it was a tad disappointing. It was great at first but it's very similar to BlazBlue's story mode where it's essentially a visual novel with the occasional fight. And having to run through it with every single character to get the whole picture means you experience the same events repeatedly, watch the same cutscenes, go through slight variations of the same dialogues, etc. And what's kind of annoying is that they don't really align very well. Depending on who you're playing as, some events have different outcomes so in the end it's hard to have a clear picture of exactly what's supposed to have happened. This worked for BlazBlue because the lore allows for every single branching path to be canon, even the joke endings or the bad ones where the characters die. But here, it just feels kinda weird because it's considered a canonical sequel to P4. At least it was mostly straightforward, no convoluted branching paths like in BB. Also, it was pretty cool to find out what happened with the P3 cast after P3's ending. That alone made it all worthwhile. Apparently, Ultimax (the sequel) will have a completely different structure. Instead of going through the same story with every single character, it'll be split in two parts big parts. One from the P3 side and one for P4. That sounds like a massive improvement because the current format just wasn't a good fit for the kind of story they're telling.

Transistor. So, I went into this one with high expectations even though I never quite understood why everyone creamed themselves so hard over Bastion. It was good but it seemed like everyone else was seeing something in it that I didn't. Transistor also felt a lot like that until something finally clicked in the last hour and a half. Everything about it screamed at me that I should be loving it. The visual style and aesthetics were great, the music was amazing and the semi turn-based combat should've been right up my alley. I think a big part of it was that the game doesn't really explain much to you, which I'm pretty sure is deliberate. So, for the first few hours, I was using the Turn() ability wrong and that made for some frustrating moments where it felt like I was constantly being punished but wasn't really sure what I was doing wrong. Once I finally realized how I was being an idiot, though, everything fell into place. This game is fucking great and now I'm kinda kicking myself for ruining my first playthrough like that. Oh well, there's still recursion mode I guess.

The first two Muramasa Rebirth DLC are 50% off right now so I finally grabbed 'em. I've been meaning to go back to the game for a while, mostly cause I want to platinum it, so this gives me a good excuse to do it soonish.

Is Demon's Souls cult? I see people talking about it almost as much as Dark, usually calling it superior (which I disagree with). But really, it probably boils down to Demon's still being a Playstation exclusive while Dark is multiplat. More people have played Dark, plain and simple. And to echo what FDS said, if you actually finished the game then why would I assume that you hated it? If you hated it so much, why did you bother finishing it? I mean, it's a pretty long game. I would expect anyone to either be won over or toss it aside before the middle. I could probably come up with 5 reasons why I think Dark is a better game but really, if you hated Demon's Souls so much then I don't see how you'd feel any different towards Dark Souls. They're different but they're not THAT different. Most people view them as part of the same series for a reason.

Pretty much all I did was drop the quality part of it, so the messages couldn't possibly be all that mixed. As for these specifics I've supposedly yet to give, it's all in my initial post but I'll just spell it out for you again: it's big-budget games. That's been stated numerous times and not just by me. I personally never said anything about heavily marketed but yeah, when these companies sink huge budgets into a product they're going to market the shit out of it. What a shocker. Still not sure how it's a bullshit marketing term when there's a widely accepted definition of what it refers to.

Lol. Because earlier I was saying that "blockbuster" is a bit too vague? I just figured that the distinction wasn't particularly necessary after all, since the gist of it remains largely the same. It's the big games. But hey, feel free to use my "lack of consistency" to convince yourself you're right.

Arguing specifics beyond what was already said would be a massive waste of time. Ethan's blockbuster analogy is good enough for me.

I'm not sure what's stupider, Dean. Your post or this actually getting its own thread...

Hooooly shit! I was kinda meh on this after Arkham Origins, it just kinda burned me out on the series and I wasn't all that eager to get another "more of the same" sequel. But goddamn, that was a fucking great trailer. Can't wait to see some proper gameplay footage. I'm assuming we'll get some at E3 considering it's ~6 months away.

Thing is, it's not some BS marketing term. At least, not comparable to nonsense like "blast processing". Your interpretation of what it means is irrelevant because it actually means something specific already. Murasaki Baby does look great, it's just not AAA. And I'm not sure why this even needs to be pointed out. I mean, it's not like not being AAA is inherently bad or anything...