KIANA'S PROFILE

What script are you using? You might be able to go in and change the default icon.

author=Liberty
X-2 would like to talk to you about character assassination...

That game was horrible from a plot and character standpoint. It's a guilty pleasure of mine, because the gameplay is pretty great. It's a 'turn my brain off and skip all the cutscenes' game.

Oh, and sequels are not just about business. They are also about passion. A lot of games that are great sequels would not exist if the team creating them didn't have the passion to do so. So, you know, it's not all about fucking money. :/

Fallout 2 comes to mind.

author=Zeuzio
I'm still waiting for my FF5 and FF6 3DS remakes

If I had a 3DS, I might be interested in this. The FFV and FFVI GBA remakes were pretty good, the DS FFIII remake was alright and the DS FFIV remake was pretty great. Though I found the new mini-games annoying, they were optional. Only being able to new game+ twice before you had to start an entirely new file was stupid, though.

Their remakes are actually handled competently, for the most part. It's just that their new material falls flat. FFIX was the high point, in my opinion. FFX was decent, but hampered by the voice acting and their obsession with matching the mouth flaps perfectly, rather than sounding like human beings. Which is probably why Auron sounds the best, since you rarely see his mouth. XII was okay-ish, but suffered heavily from no one having any idea who the lead should be. XIII cared too much about looking good. The environments looked nice, sure, but looks were all they had. The voice acting was certainly improved, but the writing dropped a couple pegs. The player had little input in battles beyond assigning classes and battles could take ages because staggering took ages, and was the only way to defeat some enemies.

This turned into a ramble. Sorry.

author=Jaden
Also, a tip on that guard; you have to follow at just the right distance to get in and out with enough space between you both, it can be difficult, but definitely possible. ;)

Which would be fine if I went in expecting a Metal Gear Solid or Deus Ex-like stealth game with combat, but nothing suggests that. So my main issue is that it's an entirely different game genre than I went in expecting, and that rubs me the wrong way. Similar to Deus Ex: Human Revolution promising stealth and subterfuge, then throwing DOOM/Halo bosses at you in mandatory combat. It's not the inclusion that's the problem as much as the sudden shift, combined with the demanded precision, that's the problem.

I also want to say: I did not experience the scrolling glitch. Which is strange, since I'm accustomed to weird glitches because I have Windows 8, the OS that hates everything older than itself.

Friend basically forced me to take a gift copy of Transistor*, so I've been playing that. Great music, stylish graphics, really entertaining gameplay and perhaps best of all: The constant narration isn't annoying. I played the demo of Bastion and just couldn't stand how the narrator seemed to talk about every miniscule thing, like he was afraid to shut up for five seconds.

But the gameplay in Transistor, it bears elaborating: I love being able to play around abilities, so being able to use every power as its own power, as an upgrade or as a passive (and later add two upgrades onto a single power) was great. Unlocking bits of character biography for using a power in different ways was also great incentive to experiment. (I spent about 80% of the game constantly swapping my loadout and found some very fun options because of it.)

Wound up slightly cheesing combat, though. Basic melee move briefly stuns an enemy. Combined it with an upgrade that lets me spam it and another (depending on loadout) that either had it chain to nearby enemies or attack even faster. Could stun lock any single enemy. (Fortunately, it takes actual effort to exploit it.)

Losing powers (temporarily) every time I took a beating also made combat way more frantic and engaging than having full combat effectiveness through a fight. The first boss had me reeling, trying to rapidly figure out how to win without my go-to move.

I do have a complaint though, and that's that the world doesn't get explored much. I've filled out every character biography and monster notes and I still don't know how the setting works. At all. I have theories, but very, very little in the way of facts. Currently going through my first Recursion (Their term for a New Game+) to see if I learn anything new.

I also found the final boss frustrating, as you have to use entirely different tactics against him than other enemies. A LOT of your abilities are worthless during the fight. I won't spoil why, but suffice to say that I abandoned my usual set of load-outs in favor of maximizing survivability and unleashing the hounds. Excellent results.

And this proves that, despite what anyone may think, I can enjoy things.

* I feel incredibly guilty over receiving gifts.