Just finished PWHD. Beat Zeke and got the true ending. The game was a lot easier than I remembered it being (except for that damnable torture sequence QTE, good thing I bought a turbo controller specifically for that part of the game). The only difficult part was the final boss. After a few tries I decided I was in no mood to screw around with a fully-outfitted Zeke, so I went back to the Mother Base menu and stripped it down to the bare essentials. Turns out the fight is a lot easier when Zeke can't rocket-skate around the platform and doesn't have an extra layer of armor.

With that done, all I have left on my Big Boss marathon playthrough is Ground Zeroes, and after that I'll be ready for The Phantom Pain.

Persona 4. I've been playing this thing diligently this summer (even making up time whenever I miss a day, which is how I wound up playing it for a massive 5 hours tonight), and now I've reached a point where for the first time in the game I have to make a decision with (if only in my mind) effects that reach far beyond just the moment: Romance, or not romance?

I am horrendously spoiler-averse, which makes researching this decision impossible, except through you, my fellow players: Does choosing one vs many vs no romance options have any effect on the game beyond the lasting effect it has on your heart? Even just something little, like a special scene or brief moment that only happens if you choose just one lover as opposed to many? The fewer details the better, of course. While I suspect that the game will turn out to be like Persona 3 in this regard, I want to ask to make sure I'm not thrown a curveball or miss out on something.

It used to be so simple. I thought I would play this game the way I did Persona 3, romancing every available option because, hey, you literally have no choice in that game if you want max social links (and you see no consequences for it so long as you max out your current romance's social link before starting a new one), but I found myself running into unexpected difficulty committing to such a plan in this game. For one, I actually take this game seriously unlike Persona 3 -- even leaving romance aside, I've hit the reset button on this game way more times than I ever did on P3 just to explore all my options and make sure I felt like I'd made the right choice even when the choices have no lasting effect.

But then for another, I find, quite unexpectedly, that so far all the friendship-end social link completion scenes seem better and more touching to me than the analogous romance-end scenes! (At least in the cases of Chie and Yukiko, the only ones I've seen so far.) On top of that, it just feels right for the story for the investigation team to be a band of just friends, either in perpetuity or at least until much closer to the end (I'm at 8/30 as of this post). The story as it's been written so far feels like it expects as much -- I mean yeah I could see the June camp swimsuit sequence or the summer festival sequence working even with one of those two already the main character's girlfriend (though really only if you convince yourself that they're trying to keep it a secret or the girl is just really shy about it), but it would certainly feel at odds, unless having a girlfriend actually changes those scenes but I doubt that.

That's kind of a complicated question to answer without getting in depth. I think if you max out each before selecting another's romantic route it's ok but it's been years since I played it. I believe you can make them jealous or suspicious but other than making you feel guilty there's not much in game consequence. In the Vita version the game makes you feel a lot worse about it from what I hear.

I'm further along in P4 (mid-February of 2012), and the only benefit of romance that I've noticed is you get a special repeatable social interaction where you can go to your room with your girlfriend and cuddle. Maybe something else goes on there as well, because after the scene ends it says, "You spent a long time being intimate with _____." I refuse to believe that they just sit there cuddling from after leaving school until it gets dark outside. By the way I chose Rise and didn't try cheating on her, so I don't know what the consequences are for that.

Minor game mechanics spoilers (NO STORY OR PLOT SPOILERS):

Thanks for the help, you two. That's exactly the kind of help I was looking for.

Jeez, I had no idea the game went so long! I crossed the 60-hour mark last night (and that's not counting all the resetting; the real number of hours spent is easily twice that) and it seems calendar-wise that I'm not even half-way through the game! Of course P3 did the same, but that was years ago so I guess I forgot. Maybe the part of the story that I'm in now and the fact that I've gotten so far into all the major social links had me lulled into a false sense of impending closure, even knowing that it was premature.

IronEvangelion wrote:By the way I chose Rise

Funny story -- I started this game two years ago, and remember at the time being head over heels for Chie at first sight because of her love of such a stereotypically masculine entertainment as kung fu movies. After a year-long break I picked up the game again and met Yukiko, and despite her obvious strong points my preference for Chie hadn't changed -- though admittedly largely because I have a weird habit of wanting to prove that I'm different from everyone else by not drooling over the obvious, conventionally-attractive option (referring not just to looks but attributes and personality). Another year later (this year), the same thing happened with Rise -- I didn't want to be one of those people, fawning over the hot idol.

But after playing further into the game over the course of this summer and experiencing more of all three, I find myself genuinely liking Yukiko and Rise more than Chie, and entirely as a result of who they are instead of what they look like. Yukiko is smart, responsible, academically gifted, and has a great character arc in her social link where she directly tackles her flaws, and Rise is bubbly, fun, approachable, surprisingly relatable, surprisingly competent, and, as we know from her dungeon, not exactly a prude. By contrast, Chie's self-deprecation about her own intelligence really irks me, but even more annoyingly she's started to come across as kinda prudish. (Nah, I have to admit: That's the only thing that really bothers me. I was still totally fine with Chie before that.) Also Yukiko's quirky habit of laughing at the weirdest things is adorable.

You know what this game needs? A "let's break up and just be friends" option. (Wait that doesn't seem like such a good idea after all, because unless it's reversible with a "let's get back together" option it would seem like in order for the relationship path to reach its true end you would have to break up to see all the content on offer .)

I feel so pathetic, I required help with Gehrman and Moon Presence on Bloodborne.

Monk Ed wrote:Jeez, I had no idea the game went so long! I crossed the 60-hour mark last night (and that's not counting all the resetting; the real number of hours spent is easily twice that) and it seems calendar-wise that I'm not even half-way through the game!

I just checked my save file, and I'm actually on January 19 (not mid-February) and I've logged 79 hours and 59 minutes! I still have a little over 2 months to go yet (game ends in March), so I'm fully expecting to exceed 90 hours by the time it's all over with. After failing the conversation I mentioned earlier and getting the bad ending, I looked this stuff up on Gamefaqs to make damn sure I don't miss anything else. I ended up finding out about 2 secret dungeons I would have missed out on otherwise (one of which is Marie-centric and is only available in Persona 4 Golden).

Funny story -- I started this game two years ago, and remember at the time being head over heels for Chie at first sight because of her love of such a stereotypically masculine entertainment as kung fu movies. But after playing further into the game over the course of this summer and experiencing more of all three, I find myself genuinely liking Yukiko and Rise more than Chie, and entirely as a result of who they are instead of what they look like.

The Steak Goddess is entertaining in short bursts, but tends to grate on my nerves after a while. I was actually trying to shack up with Yukiko at first, but then Rise showed up and started sweet-talking me. I was like, "I know you're just trying to seduce me, but DAMN you are good!" After a lot of thinking I friendzoned Yukiko (which kinda hurt a little actually) and pursued Rise. I think what drew me to Rise is how open she is. If you show her affection, she shows it back to you in public instead of being all shy about it like Yukiko. Plus I love Rise's hair color.

I didn't know where to put this but, earlier today I went to GameStop to finish paying off my pre ordered Mortal Kombat X game and they told me they had just recently announced that they were cancelling it on ps3 and Xbox 360, so it got me thinking ...Since I'm a bit behind on consoles, I'm thinking of getting one of the new consoles and I'm just wondering which one i should go with. I've owned pretty much all nintendo consoles up to the wii, and had a ps2 for a few months before the ps3 came out, got that and used it mostly to watch DVDs, the only ps3 games I played for the first few years of owning it were Heavenly Sword, and God of war 3 and didn't play much else until recently. Now the only console games i find myself playing are CoD Advanced warfare and Destiny, I guess for me right now I'm leaning towards getting the wii U, but only because of the Legend of Zelda series and super smash bros and maybe a few other titles that look interesting. So would it be worth getting now, or waiting for a price drop (if any are coming up) or waiting for the next gen consoles to be released?

Personally I want to get a Wii U but I'm holding off on that until next E3, because at E3 2016 Nintendo is going to announce a new console codenamed NX that might be backwards-compatible with Wii U games (according to a recently filed patent there may be a variant with a disc drive). I'd advise you to wait until then as well to make your decision on the Wii U.

The PS4 is great if you like Japanese-style games such as Persona 5 or Star Ocean 5. Sony's console will also now be getting exclusive DLC for new COD games (or something like that). Both PS4 and X1 will also play DVDs and Blu-Ray discs, something that the Wii U doesn't do. Both of them will also be getting Mortal Kombat X, which isn't being made for Wii U.

Xbox One is probably your best choice if you mainly play first-person shooters. They have at least 3 big exclusive series in that genre (Halo, Gears of War, and Titanfall). However, be aware that you can't swap out the X1's internal HDD for a larger one like you can with the PS4. Microsoft counts that as modding your console and can ban you from online multiplayer for doing it. To add storage to the X1, you must hook up an external HDD. Also the X1's GPU is slightly less powerful than the PS4's, meaning games will usually run at 900p resolution upscaled to 1080p instead of native 1080p like a lot of them do in PS4. This means jaggies will be slightly more noticeable on X1.

As far as online multiplayer goes, both PS4 and X1 require a paid premium subscription to play online. To my knowledge it's still free on the Wii U.

So been trying to redo my dragon age inquisition playthrough now that i beat dragon age 1+2 again and...........i cant do it.
The keep was such a stupid fucking idea i seriously hate the thing as yes plot details will be the same but dragon age 2 is one of my favourite flawed games for a very simple reason, you could fully change what type of person hawke was as the game progressed, i was always the snarky jerk-with a heart of gold lady hawke but as the game got closer to endgame my dialogue choices changed so that hawke would still snark at everything only she would be less of a general jerk about it and slowly started to mature to be more diplomatic about situations and that reflected in her disposition whenever i wasn't controlling her choices.

But i know that when i switch over to redo DO:I the hawke there will not by the one i crafted, MY hawke.
It just feels like sure dragon age 2 was lackluster in some areas (most of them level design based) but in others i personally consider that it was one of the best written and designed (except the areas/levels) to date and since people only seem to remember the lackluster parts they abandoned the good things and hawke is no longer our PC, look i appreciate the ability to create a character and all but the hawke i crafted is actually one of my favourite characters ever partially because that slow character development is something i decided on and made.

So yes im salty about my choices not mattering in a bioware game what a surprise.

Started up Warframe again, since it seems that the developers have finally realized what direction they want to take the story in and have actually started exploring the backstory. It certainly makes a change from DoTA, a game which I am beginning to believe may be the most realistic Hell simulator available.

Last night in Persona 4 I did the September school trip. Tonight I did it all over again, just to see what other options I could have picked would have yielded, and because it was so much fun.

Rise's was priceless.

Really, the whole damn scene was.

Oh, man. I love this game so much. I've been raving about it from the first session I had over 2 years ago, and it's only gotten better.

Monk Ed wrote:Rise's

Extremely minor, barely deserving a box  SPOILER: Show

technically-not-drunk drunk face

was priceless.

Really, the whole damn scene was.

Yukiko was hilarious during that scene. "Persona!"

Just played MGSV:GZ.

If MGSV:PP plays like this, I will not be disappointed.

All this Persona posting makes me sad i don't have a PS2.

I've been playing Borderlands last couple of weeks. The balancing can be frustrating (the game's just too easy) but ever since i started it i have been amazed at how such a simple concept in it's base can be so addictive and encompassing. Worst part is i know it's technically stupid/pointless, but damn if i don't love it when Bloodwing helps me get some ultra-rare loot.

I'm also still trying War Thunder and while admittedly it has improved in many small aspects and player population has grown to pretty healthy levels (and decent skill, as well) i'm sad to say that most of the major aspects that keep people away from the game are still a problem -and given the way Gaijin behaves, they'll probably always be- BR system is still up with all it's fucked glory, Flight Models are still not only unequal (ULTRA BEAUFIGHTER) but a lot of their acting is simply not taken from reality (UNSTALLABLE ZEROES), and the way the game itself is set-up gives little promise of being able to fly anything other than fighters in deatmach cage-matches pretending to be historical battles. Ultimately, staff and community are so obsessed with making it a game that it loses a lot of not only the wider aspect of a war/flight simulator but the wonder of flight itself.

Oh, and getting sniped by a Lavochkin-7 at 0.6+ Km? ffffffffffffffffcuuuck that, and that is coming from someone that sets their gun convergence at 400m!

Stryker wrote:If MGSV:PP plays like this, I will not be disappointed.

It's all the same engine/mechanics/etc so yup. You're in for some crazy and brutal fun.

Lego Racers.

Booted up my last save from 9 years ago. I completed the last race I needed in the time trial, thus getting the last Lego Car set, and beating the game for the first time in 13 years.

HUZZAH!


Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius

Why Am I Playing this? WHY? WHY? SOMEONE TELL ME "WHY", DAMMIT!

I was enjoying it as somewhat self-aware Schlock, an American production that managed to accurately reproduce the air of an Anime harem/space opera in the vein of Irresponsible Captain Tyler, or Gundam ZZ, or even a toned down Spaceship Operators. Pretty pandering, nothing deep or flashy really, but still fun.

The Turn-based system it's built around is functional, if uninspired.

But then the story gots drama. Some of which is halfway legit, which is jarring horrendously against the fact that it still has the production values of one of the "good" Newsground flash games.

I don't think I like this turn. But I must complete, must finish, must buy incremental upgrade to fleet that gives me uber powerz!... God dammit... they sucked me in, the bastards...

Killed Mr. House last night so I could take over New Vegas with Yes Man. I had some pangs of conscience until I read the "A Great Tragedy Has Befallen Mankind" note. I mean, seriously, who writes their own obituary? What a tool. He's ego continues to stridently echo its self importance from beyond the grave. Now I don't feel as bad. Plus, there was no way I was going to destroy the Brotherhood of Steel.

But did you kill him with a golf club?

Trajan wrote:Plus, there was no way I was going to destroy the Brotherhood of Steel.

Yup. That's exactly why took him out too.