Post everytime that you buy a new game...

[melancholy]

SSX Blur - $25

[Deth2k7]

Guitar Hero 2 - Xbox 360

[Specially Cork]

Final Fantasy X-2 International + Last Mission - £15

Been meaning to pick this up for a while but never bothered because of the Japanish. Should be able to work my way through it now though. I know me and the reviewer at IGN are the only people on the planet who actually enjoyed the game in the first place, but meh

[Veggita2099]

Final Fantasy X-2 International + Last Mission - £15

Been meaning to pick this up for a while but never bothered because of the Japanish. Should be able to work my way through it now though. I know me and the reviewer at IGN are the only people on the planet who actually enjoyed the game in the first place, but meh

I somewhat enjoyed Final Fantasy X-2 (just the plain U.S. release). Wasn't the greatest game in the world, but it wasn't the worst.

On a seperate note rented The Darkness for PS3. With me FPS games are usually hit or miss (love or hate them). In this case Id have to say love it. Finished it up earlier today. Gameplay was fun, and the level layout was good. Graphics was pretty amazing. Not only that but the attention to detail was pretty impressive as well.

The Darkness powers really set this apart from other FPS titles IMOalthough I honestly have to say I think they might have made it a little bit too easy. Then again I was playing the game on easy mode so you know.

Can't comment on the Multiplayer as I didn't mess with it, but single player wise It was pretty good.

[sixteen-bit]

Oh yeah, The Darkness. It is too easy on all but hard difficulty, it's about 16 hours long with little replayability and the multiplayer's rubbish but it's got this soul and character about it quite uncommon for an FPS so I say it's a mandatory rental.

It also comes with the highest accolade possible from the DCEmu forums:

games are usually hit or miss (love or hate them). In this case Id have to say love it.

Holy shit

[melancholy]

SimCity 4 Deluxe (PC) - $15
Psychonauts (PC) - $4

I've been wanting to play some SimCity for a long time now, and for some reason I just decided that today was the day to start. And despite having the Xbox version, I couldn't turn down a $4 copy of Psychonauts.

[Specially Cork]

Final Fantasy XII International: Zodiac Job System - £30
Yay! Class-based license grid!

[melancholy]

Final Fantasy XII International: Zodiac Job System - £30
Yay! Class-based license grid!

Whoa, whoa, what is this? And is it in English?

[Specially Cork]

Final Fantasy XII International: Zodiac Job System - £30
Yay! Class-based license grid!

Whoa, whoa, what is this? And is it in English?

It's one of Square's International FF upgrade versions. English voice-acting, but all text is Japanese.

- License board is replaced by 12 seperate ones for 12 different jobs: Black Mage / White Mage / Time Mage / Red Mage / Monk / Thief / Knight / Samurai / Engineer / Archer / Dark Knight / Breaker. You choose one for each character and stick with it for the whole game. Everything is obviously rebalanced to reflect this (Knights get loads of HP, white mages can cast cure on everyone at once etc.)
- New spells, skills, gambits and equipment to flesh out the jobs
- L1 turns on fast-forward mode. Twice the speed and half the frames. Great for grinding/power-levelling
- All guest characters and espers can be manually controlled by the player
- Treasure has been moved around, and stuff like Zodiac Spear is easier to obtain
- Trial mode. Don't know much about this, but you battle across 100 different maps or something. Like a solo challenge type thing I guess.
- New Game+ mode (Start at level 90)
- New Game- mode (Start at level 1, can't level up at all)
- Things cost less and sell for more, solving the "I have no money" problem (I guess also because you could make a party where nobody can steal)
- A few new dungeons and bosses for the hardcore players
- You control the party-leader in towns, you're not just stuck with Vaan

EDIT

I've actually cancelled my order for the game for now. From what I'm hearing all the changes look much better on paper than they actually are. Not being able to change jobs once chosen seems to be the biggest problem. I like the idea of class-structured licensing, but I also loved being able to completely turn my party setup on its head whenever I felt like it.

Plus it hit me how much more Japanese is in this game compared to FFX-2 International...

[Joestar]

I would have soooo got it if there was English text. Although I did manage to clock up 20+hrs on the original JP version when it first came out, but i know i won't fully appreciate the game without full knowledge of the language.

Damn Square. It's not so much of an international version if it's just japanese text

[melancholy]

I've actually cancelled my order for the game for now. From what I'm hearing all the changes look much better on paper than they actually are. Not being able to change jobs once chosen seems to be the biggest problem. I like the idea of class-structured licensing, but I also loved being able to completely turn my party setup on its head whenever I felt like it.

That's one hell of a list for only looking good on paper. In fact, this version appeals much more to me because I did structure my characters to follow a certain 'class' when I played FFXII. To be able to actually set a class and develop from it sounds like an awesome addition because that's how I want to play the game.

When I played FFXII, I actually created three 'classes' of characters, each forming two teams; Vaan, Fran and Penelo on one team, and Balthier, Basch, and Ashe on another. Vaan and Basch were my heavy hitters, my melee guys. They were the ones dealing the bulk of the damage with Vaan specializing in short swords and Basch using Katanas. Basch was also the only one to master all of the techniques. Fran and Balthier were my 'snipers'. They would be trained in long distance weapons (Fran with a bow and Balthier with guns) and were the ones responsible for casting defensive magic on everyone. Fran was special, however, because she was my most powerful black magic caster. Ashe and Penelo were my mages. They would keep everyone healthy while dealing powerful black magic, but would also have good fighting skills in a pinch in case I needed them to take over for the heavy hitters (Ashe with knives and Penelo with poles). Penelo was trained more in combat and defensive magic than Ashe, though, since Fran was such a good black mage.

...ya know, now that I have said all of that, I think I understand why this job system isn't so great. I created such a specialized team with very unique attributes that I decided. So being forced into a job system kinda kills that individuality that I developed for each person. I couldn't say, "Penelo is a white mage and a fighter who specializes in poles and has the best gambits when it comes to item use in battle," unless there was specifically a class set up with all those features. The forced direction takes some of the fun away.

And now I am once again reminded why FFXII could possibly be the best RPG I've ever played.

[Specially Cork]

You've pretty much written out the exact thought process I went through. When I first heard about this game I assumed you could switch jobs whenever, which would have given me some nice class structure, but still keep some freedom to customise.

The way it is though, everything is restrictive. I liked the idea of creating a party that is my party and having the characters naturally evolve into specialised roles that fit my personal playing style. Plus, if something isn't working out, I can just change direction. That's what I enjoyed about 12.

I can understand the complaint that in the higher levels everybody is the exact same license-wise, but this new system takes so much away from the player. "Customisation" is just the decision you make at the start of the game; the licenses are set-out in a linear path, there are no choices. White mages are stuck with light armor, staves and white magic spells. That's it. FFX was class-restrictive, but at least you could break out of your own sphere-grid. Even traditional Dragon Quest lets you specialise your characters in certain fields.

You know, this new version almost isn't a true RPG. Purely linear character development, no item creation, no weapon/armor customisation. The more I think about it, the more bland it seems

[Skynet]

Guitar Hero 80s

[Yonke]

Mario strikers charged wii

[politoe]

should be picking up my copy of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 when I get back to California this Saturday.

[melancholy]

Sam and Max: Season 1 - $23

And on a side note, I also picked up a new Gateway computer (Athlon X2 5200+, 2GB Ram) and a new video card (8800GTS) to play it on.

[sixteen-bit]

Sam and Max: Season 1 - $23

Good price. How'd you get it so cheap?

[melancholy]

Sam and Max: Season 1 - $23

Good price. How'd you get it so cheap?

Retail release on Wednesday at $30, minus employee discount.

[curt_grymala]

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (GameCube) - $9.99

[melancholy]

Deal of the Week:

Bioshock (PC) - $22