Ha! I searched and couldn't find a recent thread...i must be blind or something

Anyone else playing this one?

I'm not sure why I put this in my gamefly queue, as I usually loathe JRPG's. That being said, i'm having a pretty swell time. At 8 hours in I'm just now starting to grasp the underlying strategy of combat and feel reasonably comfortable posting some impressions.

I haven't the slightest idea what the story is about. It's set on a machine world built in levels (perhaps in the sky?).  The scenery is all spinning gears and cogs and metal bulkheads, pretty steampunk looking. The game kind of tosses you in without any explanations and you start in your base in the city. Once I walked outside my front door some old guy gave me vague directions to the Arena and so that was my first destination.

The combat is turn based, but sort of realtime within your turn. The combat tutorials were pretty weak and so much of combat (for me) is trial and error, but it gives you enough that you don't get your ass handed to ya right away. Anyone ever see Equilibrium with Christian Bale? That's what the combat reminds me of, these sort of running gun-kata's. Initially you start positioning yourself and firing on your opponents, who can in turn interrupt your turn by moving and attacking you. At the bottom of the screen are these jewels called "Bezels" and those sort of represent your health (each Bezel is worth 1k hp) and your potential for a gun-kata, which is the true nuts and bolts of the fighting. Now, you can choose to run across the map which gives you much better bonuses to firing and while running you cannot be hit by an enemy. In addition if you run across the path of your teammates you will build "resonance" which you can use to have all of your characters run and fire upon an enemy. With 3 resonance you can sort of make a triangle and, if you are positioned properly, have all of your characters run around your opponent firing in turn. That being said, once resonance is built having any character do anything EXCEPT run across your other characters path will cause you to lose your resonance, so positioning is super important. You also want to use your running katas when you are able to soften and take out an opponent, due to a Bezel being used each time you do, replenishing upon the death of an enemy. There are other things such as Smackdowns (jumping and firing upon an enemy form above) and juggling an enemy in the air with bonus shots, but so far those have been more accidental than purposeful when I do score them. Another thing to bring up is that there is a bit of grinding before you tackle bosses. I have had my arse handed to me and succeeded only after grinding for an hour or so. The bosses aren't super hard, but you need to match level with them a bit before you take them up.

This all brings us to the world map, which is made of hexes and must be explored. By defeating enemies you can loot hex pieces to unlock more of the map and sometime find treasures. Some of the hexes are colored and require a hex key of that same color to unlock. Thus far I haven't run into too much trouble exploring, but I can see wanting to use my colored hexes sparingly, as I've only received a couple of colors and shapes thus far.

The graphics are solid and the city is beautiful and reminds me alot of the towns in Baten Kaitos, which was the last JRPG I liked. The sound is good and the voice acting is superb (i'm really enjoying some of the banter I've overheard in combat, although I can see it getting tiresome if they don't change it up some).

There truly is much, much more, but as I said I'm just now starting to "get" what the game is about. Take this all with a grain of salt because I normally dislike this genre, but for some reason this one clicked and I'm having a great time with it, despite not having a clue as to what is going on or what i'm doing half the time.

Mass Effect

GR2

GTA4 - what a great experience, with the exception of having to answer Brucey's calls

another month and Ommegeddon should be out, my favorite seasonal beer. It's the kind of brew you love or hate, made with Brettanomyces which imparts a sour tone with a crisp citrus flavor. Keep it in the pantry for a few months and it gets wicked funky.

I've been all about Hoppin' Frog lately, curious to see what they some up with.

this one is gone!

Jersoc's post mirrors my own opinions perfectly. I was kinda pissed that they just removed the Mako entirely, as opposed to fixing it. It felt less like I was exploring the galaxy and more like I was a dock worker sorting bins of product or something with the whole scanning bit.

Anyone else get crazy eye from the insanely small text? Granted I'm on an SDTV via composite, but it was still wicked small(much as Dead Rising was). I got a couple of serious headaches after playing for a decent stretch.

All that nothwithstanding, it was a solid experience. Nobody does cinematic games quite like Bioware.

maybe, lemme check into it and see if it's something I'll dig. I think a buddy of mine played that one.

Would like to swap for Bayonetta or AC2 for the 360

Are you friendless or something? We spend our holidays with many of our friends, so much so that we have traditions in place and know in advance who is making/bringing what.

Plus, it's not too late to put up a tree. Start a tradition of buying each other an ornament every year maybe, do some stocking stuffers, make an awesome xmas lasagna, buy some weird winter beer, so walk around looking at lights, send out some cards, volunteer at a nursing home.

You post makes me sad

we are just past that point...i'll you a shout next time we get together (usually 10ish est)

WorkingMike on the 360

my buddies and I are almost through playthrough 1, always looking for a 4th

I think unicorns are kick ass

I give you Superfuzz

which is only slightly less awesome than Cyborg

and that brings us to this gem, finally available on dvd - Hardware

Mechs anyone?

Prepare to die Earth scum!

CBC Radio 3 and The Moth are always topping my list

Barbie Girl

My Humps is awesome when Alanis does it

he turned in the first draft back in May, so I'm guessing it'll be next spring at the earliest

my buddy and I have been playing quite a bit of SR2 co-op on the 360, so that one would get my vote. I got some achievement for playing alot, maybe 50 hours or so.

anyway, if you want to play that one you can look me up, my gamertag is WorkingMike. My other votes go to Kingdom Hearts and Munch's Oddysee

I really enjoyed all of Donald Westlake's novels over the years, particularly the Parker novels he wrote under Richard Stark. They start back around 61 or so, but there were a few newer entries as well.

Lawrence Block is good, I dig the Keller books he wrote the last few years.

I just read KOP and ExKOP by Hammond. Technically Sci-Fi, but can hold it's own among the hardboiled crowd.

The Kurtz novels by Dan Simmons were really good.

I give two enthusiastic thumbs up to both the Repairman Jack books and Lansdale's stuff.

Charlie Huston. You may not dig the vampire novels he wrote (which are excellent), but his other novels would fit the bill.

I see him around town sometimes, at the flea market, the mall, etc...

He's a pretty nice guy, just odd

i'm interested in Vagrant Story, sent ya a pm

TeaPartay - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y4-5Zouvjs&eurl=

Super duper NSFW - http://www.poetv.com/video.php?vid=13250

I have up for trade:

Lost Odyssey
Infinite Undiscovery(new in shrinkwrap)
Dark Sector
Oblivion Collectors Edition
Pure
C&C Kanes Wrath
Jericho


Looking for:
Saints Row 2
Far Cry 2
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway
Left 4 Dead
Halo Wars

Saints Row 2 is topping my list, so i figured I'd try here first before trading em in to Gamestop

the multiplayer world was much more fun than the single player campaign, at least to me.

that's a good point. I really regret selling my copy a few years back and i'm certain that other people feel similarly.

I know it's a shot in the dark. I'd like to rip it to my PSP's memory stick, I really enjoyed this one.

yeah, I would just say RROD and send it in. I doubt they even test the units they repair.

I have a jewel case copy of Emperor with all the cd's. I'll have to look around for the manual, not sure if I have it. The cd key is on the case.

Anyways, it's yours if you want it, just send me a pm with your addy and i'll mail it out. I'll take an older game in trade if you want, but i'm just as happy to pass it along as well.

sorry, for the 360

for your Far Cry 2

there is a movie called Vulgar that stuck with me. My wife had nightmares for a few nights just from my description of the film. The guy who played Dante in Clerks is the protagonist.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120467/

I'll 2nd Happiness. I haven't been able to look at Dylan Baker as anything else since I watched that one.

I think that in order for you to be in the Nerd or Geek category there needs to be a distinct lack of social skills. People who have interesting hobbies that they delve into while maintaining a social life = Fascinating/eclectic souls. People who can ONLY relate to their hobbies and people who share those interests = Nerds/Geeks. I know math nerds, beer nerds, tattoo geeks. It's a matter of obsession.

In my mind there is a distinct line you cross before you become "that guy"

super clean, who did it?

btw, Funny Games is a remake. The original is a little better in my opinion.

do NOT watch http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0856288/

Frontiers was pretty rough too http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0814685/

There is an older film called Man Bites Dog. If you can find the uncensored version of it, it's worth a watch. More morally disturbing than graphic.

There is a great picture you can get instantly on Netflix called Dead Man's Shoes that lingers with you.

if you are digging Song of Fire and Ice, then I would also recommend the series The First Law by Joe Abercrombie - i think you would dig it.

You also might want to check out Matthew Reilly, his novels are fun. He is to writing what Frazetta is to painting, where he constantly throws you into the peak moment of action. Pretty implausible, but wicked entertaining.

my wife is a non-gamer and she LOVES Mario Party

lately she's been all about Outdoor Adventure Challenge (i think thats the name....the one with the DDR pad)

Joe Cigar has the Indian Tabac Super Fuerte on sale today for 30 bucks per 20. With SCHIP going into effect, this is an excellent price on a great cigar.

It's one of Rocky Patel's blends

http://www.joecigar.com/

How can you give individual attention to that many children?

Maybe she can give some to Angelina Jolie

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist was maybe the worst film I have watched all year. I think it was my moment for "I just don't understand the kids today".

I gave up on Kevin Smith awhile back, so I think I'll skip Zack and Miri.

Being There is a favorite of mine, its a wonderful film.

Viking - fun hack and slash, I was pleasantly surprised at this one

The Simpsons Game - the gameplay suffered in parts, but overall I really enjoyed it

Too Human - I thought it was a pretty good game, undeserving of the poor scores it recieved