God that game is boring.
A couple of days ago after some recent inspiration (an LP to be specific), I decided to revisit Lufia DS ::dekar!:: and do the things I hadn’t done on my first go around (like clearing the Ancient Cave, collect the Dragon Eggs and beating the Egg Dragon and viewing the NG+ ending). So far I’ve managed the first of those things and am about to do the latter of the remaining two (since the last four Eggs are held by the final boss rush, you can’t collect them without beating the game).
I’m slowly working my way through Dragon Age: Inquisition. Solid gameplay, good but uneven music, and an occasionally powerful story, but not an era-defining RPG like Skyrim or Baldur’s Gate II. It’s at its best during the main storyline, while the other 75% of the game has too much filler and repetitive fetch-questing. It’s like they had an awesome, thirty-hour game, then rushed at the last minute to add a hundred more hours of gameplay by scattering random items on every map and forcing you to gather them to level up for the next real plot point.
The timelines don’t quite line up. Japan’s economy exploded in the 1970s and 1980s, stagnated in the 1990s, and has declined relative to other countries since then. Japan’s video game industry exploded from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, stagnated from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s, and has declined since then. In other words, the Japanese video game industry flourished most precisely when the economy stopped doing so.
I’m not sure there’s any real meaning to be extracted here. But it wouldn’t be the first time that the arts have suddenly flourished among the first generation that casts aside its parents’ hardworking, traditional values in favor of a more epicurean lifestyle, only to degrade slowly after that point.
How is the Egg Dragon in Lufia DS? I watched a youtube video of the fight and it looks kinda odd, not to mention getting the 7th egg seems like a pain.
I should probably watch a video of the ‘true’ ending someday.
Unfortunately, the Egg Dragon turned out to be basically just another Dragon Enemy pallet swap. He’s not all that hard if you can get past its huge numbers (with the Iris’ Sword and a bunch of tier 4 Mystic Stones, I was able to inflict reasonable amounts of damage with charged magic at level 2).
The 7th Dragon Egg can either be a royal pain in the ass to get (since you have to replay the unskippable cutscenes and entire boss rush up to that point to get another shot at it), or ridiculously easy to get if you’re not adverse to cheezing it (just take someone who has access to the No Fall Damage trait and let invincibility frames do the rest of the work). The 8th one is probably more challenging since Daos does not like to stand in one place unless he’s pummeling you or dropping meteors from above. He’ll also start countering your Za Waudo powers with his own which makes scoring hits later one even more difficult.
As for the NG+ ending. Its largely the same right up until [SPOILER]Maxim and Selan are about to take out Doom Island’s last Energy Core when first run Erim shows up out of nowhere and challenges Maxim to one last boss fight where Dual Blade changes form and you actually fight Erim proper. Once you beat her she reveals that now that you’ve beaten her Maxim’s power levels are [STRIKE]over 9000[/STRIKE] strong enough to smash the fortress’s core without him and Selan dying in the process and they get warped out while Iris/Erim dies instead (at least until Lufia 1 where she comes back along with the rest of the Sinstrals). You get the same ending sequence except its Iris’ energy/spirit/ghost/thingy floating around overhearing everyone who are talking about having a party to celebrate Maxim and Selan saving the day instead of mourning them/promising to protect the land they sacrificed themselves for with the scene with Jeros concluding with his parents walking in and finally settling down as a family. Then after the credits you have Arek conversing with Dual Blade again about the role of gods and yadda yadda.
Or in short, its Erim/Iris who dies at the end instead of Maxim and Selan.[/SPOILER]
(EDIT by Skankin’ Garbage: No spoiler tags? Just cos the game is old doesn’t mean it’s not a spoiler.)
(Double Edit: Welp. Looks like I don’t need to edit that spoiler tag in myself then. In my defense though, I’m only essentially spoiling the first 10 minutes of Lufia 1. :V)
My gaming has been on hold for a bit. Been finalizing my second novel entitled “Legacy of Vullah” which is set to be released sometime this weekend on Amazon (with any luck).
But now that the hard work is over, I can take the summer off and go back to some gaming. My wife is getting Splatoon so I imagine she’ll be using the TV for a while, unless I can get in there as well. Other than that, thinking about playing Simon’s Quest again.
Finally got myself the Gigabyte GTX970 G1 Gaming Edition and signed up for the Witcher 3 yesterday. For now… I’m powering on in Witcher 1 and loving it. 
Hmmmmmmm…I think I like this explanation better.
I’m pretty much waiting for the new Batman game (Arkham Knight) to come out. I’m a big Batman fan and can’t wait to be breaking the arms/legs of thugs for having the audacity to jaywalk.
'til then… I’m just working on this shrine, playing some emulators (Xenogears, recently).
Im still debating Xbone or PS4… But until I decide I don’t think ill be playing anything besides Destiny.
Started playing FF5 again, GBA version. Felt like it, since the Fiesta is coming up soon.
I might just try it this year for kicks, it’d be challenging.
Been playing Pokemon Alpha Sapphire because I got it on sale and oh god, why did I get another Pokemon game? Why!?
Currently about to reach Mawville.
Splatoon has been a blast so far, unique and colorful game mechanics combined with surprisingly good netcode considering the source. Even worked when tethered to a mobile connection, surprisingly.
In other news, Monster Hunter 4U, Killing Floor 2 and Pokemon AlphaSapphire in small doses.
My wife loves Splatoon. The ranked battles seem to D/C her a lot for some reason, but she loves the game. Had me get her the amiibos for it as soon as it came out.
I haven’t played it yet outside the global test run.
Witcher 3 is very good so far if you don’t hate the A in ARPG.
Now that E3’s over, I can get back to playing through Alpha Sapphire. Currently starting out on the Eastern half of the region, scoring Mega Evolution functionality and Latias in the process.
I don’t get that much time for games sadly. I was briefly enjoying Omega Ruby. Still am not even close to being done the story though. Prior to that was Bravely Default… same boat. I beat Pokemon X at least.
Last month I did a technical difficulty (read, FAIL) prone let’s play of the first chapter of Settlers 7. I plan to EVENTUALLY start doing those again but I have little time with the kids running around. I also plan to hand out a game key for it on my final episode of it. Here.
Other than that, my wife had a pretty successful Youtube channel before it got shut down in February 2014 by some fraudulent “offensive” reports. It featured a lot of animated music videos of the Heroes of Might and Magic series. So I have been at work more or less recreating them on my own channel. So I mostly have been playing Heroes of Might and Magic games lately.
I try to upload at least 1 game related video per day (typically these days 1 Heroes related animatic and a trailer for a random retro game). I also have a few sketches I have not uploaded yet because I only really get about an hour to myself at most per day and it takes much longer than that to edit a decent video… (I don’t got many descent videos 
)
I also throw on random (mostly educational and/or propaganda) videos I find interesting that are related to special days on the calendar.
Assuming my channel gets popular enough I will start doing much more giveaways including my childhood toys (He-Man, Ninja Turtles, Battle Beasts, G.I. Joes, Thundercats, etc).
If you’re curious, here’s my channel.
Shovel Knight.
I’m very impressed; for some reason, I really hate games that appear to ride the nostalgia wave, but I play them anyways. For once, though, I really am enjoying a game that’s a deliberate throwback.
What version you playing? I ask as depending of the response, you get slightly different special stages.
For example, the XB1 has a Battletoads stage. PSVita gets Kratos, I don’t remember what specific things in other platforms.
Shovel Knight is so awesome. It has an old school feel but it plays flawlessly. I strongly believe it should have just been outright GOTY last year.
I have the Wii U version, which lets you hot-swap your sub-weapons via the touch screen without having to open the menu. The 3DS version I believe has some sort of arena type game for online play.