What games are you currently playing?

[Armando]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Still playing Dark Souls. Undead Burg/Parish's level design was really stupid, but I'm pleased to see you can actually see hints of traps in the levels that follow. A damned shame they went full retard in Anur Londo.

Playing Pokemon Y too. EXP Share is so broken, my whole party is consistently 5 levels higher than any trainer I encounter. Also, Huge Power Azumarill is so OP for single player mode. I wouldn't be surprised if I could beat the entire game with a combination of Return and Aqua Tail.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

I think EXP Share is less about being broken and more a realization that the audience grew up, social media is a big thing and not to waste anyone's time with constantly swapping out the pokemon you want to level with a stronger one.

That's just me, though. It could be a little OP, but handheld RPGs of late are way more adept at respecting the player's time than console RPGs are.

[Firewind]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

What BBQ said. They also took out all of the grind required to be competitive online as well. it's actually why I've made the leap from OU to VGC because I can do that easily on my 3DS quite easily.

The main problem with JRPGs in general is that the vast majority do pad out the game length with arbitrary grinding. Actually being able to sit down and play the game without having to bore myself to tears with grinding is a very welcome thing. Persona 4 Golden is another great example. If you have very limited time, you have the option to boost your XP and money gains from battle. Given that it is an SMT game, it making the game easier or not depends on how well you use the system, but it is an improvement over having to waste my entire lunch break killing stuff when I could be making progress in the game's plot.

Plus nobody is forcing you to use XP Share. You can turn it off. I don't understand the logic behind people that whine about a feature that makes the game less of a grindfest, a feature that they can just toggle off.

Another great thing about XP Share is that it makes new additions to the team less of a burden to level. You can easily have them catch up to the rest of the team, and if you use Super Training then you can easily grind the EVs up.

[Armando]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

It's not that the idea is terrible. The EXP system has always required you to do nonsensical things to keep your levels balanced, like send out weak Pokemon because the ideal match-up is already high level. It's the implementation that's pretty wonky: every Pokemon that didn't participate gets 50% of the EXP the participant got. That's 50% * 5 = 250% MORE EXP than you would otherwise get without EXP Share. Instead of redistributing the EXP to the Pokemon that need it most, you're quite literally leveling everyone at once for free. The difference is quite noticeable. Nothing can stop me; I'm too high level. I may actually get to the Elite Four without being 5-10 levels under them.

Granted, being able to trivially beat random trainers is no big deal since they were already retarded. You generally don't start to run into trouble until you're practically at Victory Road. You could argue the real problem is that they should have less trainers but with smarter AI and more/better Pokemon so that I'd actually feel I'd be missing out on something other than money by trivializing these fights.

EDIT: Or maybe they should just formally introduce a Master Mode for veterans. I think Nuzlocke's popularity is in no small part due to how easy the games are otherwise.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

We'll convert Armando to the ways of SMT and Atlus yet. Their games really do reward knowledge of the system more than they do grinding.

You can still grind your brains out if you want in them and I honestly do, but the difference is I don't have to grind to progress as much as to create the exact team of demons I want to suit my experience and situational stuff.

The difference is now SMT, Pokemon and Fire Emblem all let you grind because you want to - not because you have to. Anyone that grinds in an SMT game because they think they have to is just doing it wrong. Digital Devil Saga is probably the sole exception to this because it followed a more traditional flow like Final Fantasy IX and the encounter rate is Skies of Arcadia/FFIX crazy.

[Armando]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

We'll convert Armando to the ways of SMT and Atlus yet. Their games really do reward knowledge of the system more than they do grinding.

I'd say I'd jump on one of those as soon as I beat Dark Souls, but I still owe my fiancé a playthrough of KH3D so she can finally talk to me about the most recent plot twists. Not only is it really overdue, now I double owe her since I made her play Wind Waker.

[Carter]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Playing Pokemon Y and FFXIV:Aaaaaaaaargh!

[Firewind]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

SMT does a good job of punishing those who grind really. By far the most efficient way of getting higher level mons is to fuse them, and even then you need to know what you are doing in battle.

Also X/Y screws over Nuzlockes HARD. You can run into Wild Wobuffet with Destiny Bond. Hordes also screw over Nuzlocke runs too.

[Armando]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Also X/Y screws over Nuzlockes HARD. You can run into Wild Wobuffet with Destiny Bond. Hordes also screw over Nuzlocke runs too.

That sounds pretty rough. I haven't run into a horde yet, so I don't know the implications of that, but the Wobufett thing doesn't seem like an issue with proper planning (and I've never met someone who Nuzlockes on their first playthrough.) You have 3 options: Repel; have your first Pokemon carry Sleep in those areas; have your first Pokemon be a Ghost.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

I'd say I'd jump on one of those as soon as I beat Dark Souls, but I still owe my fiancé a playthrough of KH3D so she can finally talk to me about the most recent plot twists. Not only is it really overdue, now I double owe her since I made her play Wind Waker.

After Dark Souls you'll be fairly used to the sort of brutality you'll be facing in a game like SMT IV. I'd actually start there because people that start with stuff like Persona 4 or Devil Survivor tend to develop the wrong impression and expectations of the main series. SMT IV isn't without its happy and funny moments, but the main series stuff tends to be darker than the spin-offs. This helps a game like Persona 4 shine, though, because its rather upbeat even if it delves into serious subject matter at times.

[Armando]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

After Dark Souls you'll be fairly used to the sort of brutality you'll be facing in a game like SMT IV.

I hope SMT uses a different definition of brutality than Dark Souls, because Dark Souls likes to artificially inflate its difficulty by wasting huge amounts of your time. It just does so in a very different way than the average "you must grind this much to win" RPG.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Well, SMT IV ditched the VIT stat common to other games in the series, so the early game does take joy in punching you or your party members in the throat real quick and watching them go down. It gets better after the initial dungeon crawl and you learn the ropes. Battles there are fast.

Thankfully SMT IV is the first in the series where its not an instant Game Over if the protagonist dies. That and P4G let you at least restart the current floor you were on if that happened.

More or less, Atlus does RPGs like SE used to do them pre-FFVII - which is to say tutorials are short, to the point and the way the game is streamlined isn't insulting. The story is also interested in staying on-point.

The world map does suck, though. I only forgive it because the world map theme is one of the best ever.

[Firewind]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Starting with SMT IV is only an option in the US though. Outside the US it's basically Persona 4 or dealing with the broken EU versions of Devil Survivor Overclocked, or being gouged on the prices for the 3DS Atlus games. We pay $60 for what are essentially year old Portable Games.

[Ketaru]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

Armando. 3DS Friend Code?

3780-9025-1422

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: What games are you currently playing?

[Daily update that a European person lives in Europe and a lack of SMT IV or any discussion regarding it makes him sad.]

Well, its time to play some more SMT IV, then.