Sombre

So wait, you got most of the poop out of your collective systems, which includes "Two hot scoops"? Aaaah, I'll get my coat.

You guys talk about poop so much.

Downloading now, I hope there's some "BM Bronstring Marek Bronstring" moments.

My internet/steam both went down, so I missed the real Video game time, hoorah! However, the new chaos units are bomb ass, and I finished the vanilla campaign. The CR campaign is balls hard so far, I died on the second level!

Because our usual last standing is disrupted due to GDC and the like, Patters and I are gonna try and get a few of us together tonight to play some standard 3 on 3 with chaos rising. I'm not sure if you can play with us without it, but I think you actually can. If you're down for some thumbtastic multiplayer tonight, holler!

It just feels like, in a JRPG, they should explain it more, instead of making me read it in a seperate codex. In a game which EVERYTHING is speech, it just does my head in.

Okay, so, I'll write up a real kind of thought process later, but here's some quick notes so far: Story: Somewhat contrived and...bad. There's just nothing really going on. Some talk of "L'ciel" and "Cocoon", but at no point in the game so far (Chapter 5, disc 2, 8 hours in) has anyone said anything about what they are, beyond passing references. You're assumed to either know what it means, infer what they are, or throw yourself into the extensive datalog, to try and discern it from that. Characters: Not really sure about it, because the game doesn't let me play as one for more than 30 minutes at a time before throwing me to another group. Think the splitup scene from FF6, except it's all the time. Nobody really stands out at the moment, apart from Snow, and that's because his VA is the guy who did Kanji Tatsumi from Persona 4. Although, I approve of the "Chocofro" Aesthetics: Something that the game shines on so far. The music is top (However battles are over so fast that I'm sick of the stupid "Fanfare" attempt). Everywhere I go is different, and this is something that FF13 does really well, it creates a real immersion in the world, with everything looking, frankly, absolutely stunning. Every game local, character animation and enemy design is at the top of its game. Sometimes, I've literally stopped and looked around at the amazing vistas, landscapes and bizarre industrial designs. A minor problem with the sound mix aside (Flavour dialogue in the field is meaningless, not exciting, and much quieter than it needs to be), it's very good so far. Combat: Not sure how I feel about this. Read any review or rabid FF hater, and you'll hear it's "Press autoattack, receive win". Unfortunately, this is true. Despite the fact that the game allows you to pick and choose actions, what's the point? Brad Shoemaker of Giantbomb said "As much as you can choose your actions, there's no point. The autocommand picks them much faster, more efficiently, and frankly better choices than a human ever could". As much as I like to pick my own stuff, I just make "Gamey" job alliances. I'm usually going for a pure caster setup, a pure melee setup, or a "Heavy and medic" setup, because there's no point in making a competent, debuff ready and buffable squad, the battles are over too fast. I've never had any problem with bosses so far, just because the game is too easy to get around. I'm enjoying the character job system so far, kind of. Not sure how I feel about it so far, it seems kind of seethrough, and easy to exploit so far. Concluding thoughts: S'alright, I guess. Not that far into it so far, but it seems a bit...well, standard. It's a normal JRPG intro, that looks really good and has the Final Fantasy name on it. Not sure what to expect, the game seems far too easy so far, or far too hard, it fluctuates I suppose. Making my way through it. Seems to be a lot of (Somewhat) boring combat and just...meaningless plot points. In chapter 4, I was on a beach, and a scene happened. From there, I had to run 20 feet forward, to initiate the next plot point. There's a lot of "What's the point in that" moments so far, however, this isn't to say I don't enjoy it. Making my way through it.

Loving this combat system so far, super fun and fluid. Currently rolling with 3 main setups: 2 rav and one medic for magic +healing 1 com/one rav and one medic for damage with a bit of safety in the medic 2 ravs and 1 commando for all out attack. Just reached chapter 4 and done an eidolon fight. Not sure how I feel about the FF6 style "Hey, you jump between people nonstop", however.

If you want, I can break down some investigative journalism and confirm/deny if that's real

PGC posted this earlier, which I think is interesting I think the thing to realise, regarding the cracking and piracy, that Ubisoft has a limited timeframe, limited funding, people and so on, whereas the pirates have infinite time, and infinite resources. It's eventually going to get cracked, so I think the fact that Ubisoft seem to have been doing several statements about "It's been a week and we're still going strong" (Never mind the actual DRM is kind of draconian!!) is somewhat....dumb.

People are complaining that the American and UK versions don't have Japanese voice overs. Why are people so bad?

Jake is so sassy.

If I may, how do you guys seem to play, in regards to tactics?

You're just so quoteable!

This is the third time today I've thought/talked about BM Bronstring. Left, right. More men!

Update: We rocked our previous high score and wave count, completely changing how we play the game with some awesome unlocks achieved over the night (thank you dead body teleporter!!) We made it up to wave 16, which was an evil version of us, who we faced off equally with until the end, until we just fucked up and died. Hot damn the last 3 and a half hours flew by, I love this game mode!! I am the dead one

Can you confirm/deny that's you and video games?

Our last high score was wave 15. I will report back later tonight with our progress,watch this space!

For someone who could never really get into the original, just because it was just so ballbreakingly hard and complex, would you say I should get this? I love the concept of stalker, but it looks too...open for me. I'm all for divergent paths and player driven stories, but I need some kind of structure.

After all this amazing ARG work, and some truly incredible kind of ideas, why did they just announce it on a GI cover? Seems counter intuitive.

Out of 121 deaths, I have made it there 3 times. Yetis on the iceworld just destroy me.

This thread embodies Idle Thumbs to a tee. Was I noticing some anamosity between Jake and Steve this week? I heard Jake, after much "bullying" say "Scoops" and Steve suddenly got quieter. Internal power struggle? Fight for Curleys gold? Who Knows!?

I'm still laughing at Jakes impression of the Chris "Boost Remo" robot sporadically. Brilliant cast this week/month.

I just made it to the third tileset on Spelunky!

Why did they drop him into a huge vat of 2010?