[Event] The PokeCommunity Game-Along

[Cherrim]

Assuming I can get my PSP up and running, I think I'm gonna replay Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. I wanted to replay it before FF7R and this is the perfect excuse.

If I can't get my PSP going... I'm on vacation through the middle of the month so I'll have to find something I can play on the go. If Crisis Core is a no go, I might play Tales of the World: Reve Unitia on 3DS instead. Guess you'll all find out when I post my first update...!

 

[gimmepie]

Finished all the 100CC cups today. Maybe I should have chosen a longer game lmao

 

[Rynamite]

I only have the "tutorial" done so far >: I'm sorry guys I just haven't had time to game lately. I am going to try and twitch some more tomorrow and convert it to YT later on. The video below proves that I started a new file..

 

[Fleurdelis]

THIS GAME IS GOING TO BE THE END OF ME

Am at mission 8 now, total jumpscares went up to 53
note to self, chem launcher only is rigged to hell

 

[pkmin3033]

Well, now that its FINALLY turned up...my game for the month is going to be Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX! Because I love this series.

...my disappointment at the lack of Friend Areas cannot be adequately expressed with words, however. They had ONE job. ONE. For crying out loud =/

 

[Cherrim]

March Progress #1
Theme: Spinoff
Game: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Console: Playstation Portable
Number of times I've cried: 0.5 (teared up something fierce near the start)

hi i guess i'm just gonna keep up cute themed css for updates each month

After some fuss, I did manage to find my copy of Crisis Core and get it working on my pink PSP. :> I'd forgotten what a comfortably sized console the PSP was. It's nice and light and the only sideback is how LOUD the disc drive is when it spins up, which is like every 30 seconds. But oh well.

I haven't gotten too far, yet. I played the first mission on the first night I got it running and definitely almost cried when Lazard implied being a hero was an impossible dream. ;_;' I'm gonna keep a cry count and we'll see if this game wrecks me for more than just the ending lmao. Anyway, I took a few days off to pack for my trip and picked it up again and played it for the entirety of my 5+ hour flight today. I... still did not make much progress! I spent most of it going through missions until I finally got bored of struggling through the Very Hard ones and took a break to do some plot (which I was then 15 levels overlevelled for and breeezed through). Zack made First Class SOLDIER and then my plane landed, so I've set it aside for now. Will probably play before bed each night as I fall asleep. I'm gonna have to force myself to progress through plot, though, because if I try to do all the optional missions, I will never finish this before the end of the month. @_@

I'd forgotten what a fun game it is! I'm struggling a lot with being unable to change button assignments (I'm too used to Japanese games with O/X switched) and blocking is... too slow to be all that useful, but otherwise it's pretty dynamic. I hope FF7R just plays like a more advanced version of this because then I'll be thrilled. The game still looks amazing, too, for a game that's a decade old.

 

[gimmepie]

I finished the remainder of Mario Kart 7 today. It was fun to revisit it but I'm never playing another mirror course again if I can avoid it.

 

[pkmin3033]

I finished PMD DX just now...in less than 3 days, haha.

Overall, I enjoyed it! It's definitely easier than I remember it being...Psyduck is crazy overpowered in this game, and that's amazing. Blizzard turns Monster Houses into a joke, Hydro Pump tears through corridors, and Psychic is a nice skill to have. Aerial Ace was just kinda there because I get very tired of seeing "Miss" come up on my screen. Visually it's definitely the best looking 3D Pokemon title to date (although in fairness that isn't saying much) and the soundtrack was delightfully nostalgic. But...no Friend Areas. So it's an inferior version of the original. Seriously, with all the love and care put into this, why did they have to be lazy in the one area where it mattered most?

Also I tried Auto Mode for a bit in some dungeons, and it's...really, really weird. If there is a Pokemon collapsed on the floor, it will go straight to that Pokemon no matter what you have it set to, which makes it basically useless if you don't want to give said Pokemon an apple. It also takes weird, roundabout routes to get to the next area, and turns itself off when you step on a trap or come within a few spaces of a wild Pokemon...in short, it's pretty damn useless.

Onto the postgame grind!

 

[Fleurdelis]

Wrapped up Renegade

NO MORE VISCEROIDS

 

[Janp]

So, I continued with my run of Paper Mario: Sticker Star and don't find it really entertaining after 1st world. The combat got boring really quickly and while the aestheticis are nice, I don't think I'll finish it. So I decided to switch my March game to Pokémon Conquest, which I plan on trying for years.

 

[Cherrim]

March Progress #2
Theme: Spinoff
Game: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Console: Playstation Portable
Number of times I've cried: 2.5

I've had a lot more downtime during this trip than I expected, so I've been making a lot of progress. I'm now at chapter 8, which I believe is the last chapter before Shit Gets Real™. But that also means I have to pause and finish up sidequests everywhere. I've been vaguely following a missables guide but I didn't actually check it until recently so I'm scared I've maybe missed some more time-sensitive stuff. Hopefully I can still do everything, though. I have to make Aerith a flower wagon, but she can wait while I........ plow through a ton of missions because I haven't been doing them much lately oops.

I teared up really hard again the first time I got Aerith's DMV because l m a o god i remember what happens at the end and then I teared up again when I met Cloud and then full on cried at the end of that chapter so I guess that puts me at 2 cries. It's been about a decade since I played this game, so I've actually forgotten a surprising amount of details from the game which means I keep getting slightly blindsided by sudden "oh no"s as I suddenly remember what's coming up and boy oh boy I am not ready for this ending.

 

[BlissyMKW]

Normally, I'd say I would do Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition, since it is a Zelda spinoff, but because I speedrun the game and can do a NG+ Main Story run in under 3 hours, I'm doing Blue Rescue Team and Rescue Team DX instead because I'm working on writing up a review for Rescue Team DX and I'm playing through Blue Rescue Team at the same time in order to see the changes between versions...by basically playing the game's story twice.

 

[pkmin3033]

Speaking of PMD DX...whilst I've finished the main story, I am still doing postgame. Low-key goal of recruiting one of everything (excluding the shinies, because I don't fancy trawling Mystery Houses for Celebi; finding Riolu/Lucario is going to be bad enough...) as I did with the original game. I managed to recruit a Kecleon yesterday, after getting my Psyduck's stats to over 200 to just survive, giving it Friendly, a Friend Bow, and using an Inviting Orb. It actually got me the first Kecleon I came across; getting it to the stairs was harder than getting it, haha.

Just now I finally did this:

Spoiler:

NEVER AGAIN. I swear, they made that dungeon much more difficult for the remake...or maybe I just got horrendously unlucky. I managed to do it with Charizard...after about twenty failed attempts to get past 20F (everything had fucking Rollout or a status move!) and about 5 hours of creeping through corridors, backing down into the nearest room if I came across something and letting my squad kill it for me, haha. I hoarded 6 Guiding Wands and 3 One-Room Orbs to cheese the last 9 floors, otherwise I probably would have died...a Parasect caught me with Spore on 98F and Fury Attacked me to death as it was; luckily I had a couple of Reviver Seeds saved up...and backup Slumber/Totter/Slow orbs to keep everything off my back whilst I bolted for the stairs, ahaha.

But yes. No. Never again. It's already been two times too many.

Now all that I have left to do that might cause me a bit of misery is recruit Chansey's evolution line (they're all in Joyous Tower I think...another awful 99F Level 5 no item dungeon) and find Riolu/Lucario, who are only in Mystery Houses...I hate RNG. Hate it.

 

[BlissyMKW]

I hate RNG. Hate it.

It is a curse that plagues all of us RPG players. Also, congrats on the first Kecleon recuit.

Anyway, in BRT, I'm past Mt. Steel. Haven't started DX yet because I'm trying to stop being lazy and do the Totem Compendium video for Persona 1. If I play my cards right, I should get to it...eventually.

 

[Lumina]

Welp, after being stuck on Leviathan all month, I finally beat him. Here's hoping I can clear the rest of the game before the deadline.

 

[Cherrim]

March Progress #3
Theme: Spinoff
Game: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Console: Playstation Portable
Number of times I've cried: 8+ and my life will never be the same

Game Complete!​

...safe! Had to force myself to put down Animal Crossing to do the last two chapters before the end of the month.

I just finished it and I'm writing this through tears. Somehow it's WORSE than the first time I played because this time I knew exactly what was coming and would start tearing up (or straight up crying) before anything even happened. It's a very sad game and it wrecked me and it's 10/10 highly recommended.

I wish I'd put more effort into completion, but I'm pretty sure the harder missions are meant to be done on a NG+, which I didn't do this time, so alas, this game will probably never get a 100% from me because I'm too addicted to Animal Crossing (and, soon, FF7R) to give it the attention it needs. And if I ever play it again one day, I'm pretty sure I want to play it in Japanese because I bet the voice direction is a little better. I might go back in and do the extra stuff in the final dungeon, but today I was emotionally prepared for the ending so I didn't want to delay it. Or, well, I was as prepared as one can be. Which is not at all, really, but better than nothing.

Wish my cat hadn't abandoned me when I most needed him for emotional support. :why:

 

[pkmin3033]

April - RNG

We're going to try something a little different for April! This month's theme is...RNG. The dreaded RNG. The one thing that can ruin video games and keep you playing for hours whilst other players will complete the task in mere minutes. Your skill as a player means nothing in the face of this demon of game design.

But worry not! Nothing so odious as being forced to play games that rely upon this (although you wouldn't have far to look, unfortunately) awaits you. Rather, this means that the game you play this month will not be entirely within your control...

To participate in April's Game of the Month challenge, post four games that you would like to play. They can be whatever your heart desires - any genre, any platform, new or old, replay or first time, just as long as there are four of them. I shall then put these through a randomiser, and whichever one is chosen is the one you shall play! This month changing your game is not allowed, so make sure you pick something you're going to want to play to completion.

 

[Fleurdelis]

-snip-

RNGezus TAKE THE WHEEL!

Yu-Gi-Oh!: Legacy of the Duelist - Link Evolution
Age of Empires II
DOOM
Need for Speed Most Wanted

 

[Lize]

Yes hi!!!

• Yu-Gi-Oh!: Legacy of the Duelist - Link Evolution
• Starbound
• Underhero
• Hacknet

So to add some notes:

I've dabbled in some Duel Links but other than the original show all the way back in my childhood I'm somewhat bare on my Yu-Gi-Oh. I know about all the different new things though, like pendulum and xyz and link summoning etc. I think it could be fun to try to either play with story deck but also maybe construct my own deck with somewhat limited knowledge and keep updating it from time to time to make it work better while I maybe hopefully gain some more card knowledge.

I'll absolutely be playing Starbound together with machomuu. I don't completely know how the game ends and/or where it ends (like terraria i suppose) but i suppose i'd count both the end of the main story as well as defeating all the bosses (all of them!) as ending milestones. in regards to reporting, i'll probably make machomuu report too but otherwise i'll report on all the hijinks. I think it could be fun and/or interesting.

 

[machomuu]

Bravely Default - To give some context, I bought this game years back and played it. At some point I went absolutely fucking mental and decided to turn up the monster spawn rate to max, turn on autobattle, and just run in circles. For an even crazier reason I can't explain, I ended up using that to level 20+ levels past where you're supposed to be. Considering it's Chapter 1.

So uh

I guess in a very technical sense it'd be me playing the game for the first time despite the hours put in. Plus it'd be a nice sequel to my FF3 play at the end of last year.

Tales of Berseria - Never played a Tales of game before other than Innocence but the caveat for this one's that if it gets picked, @Lize's obligated to play it with me from beginning to end. She consented but tbh that wasn't really a factor

Final Fantasy XV - Kill Me

Near A Tomato - No way I'm restarting this just jumping in from where I left off. The open world in this game is killing me, there's my first post, right there.

Quicklist:

• Bravely Default
• Tales of Berseria
• Final Fantasy XV
• Nier Automata