ShadowPaladin V1.0

Not particularly I always quote the post unless it's just general stuff.

Yes. She is also in Tales of Symphonia.

Although the early JRPGs while playable are really nothing to write home about in the story department. What I have found in most cases is that JRPGs have linear and very heavy story based intro's then mid game you get to go off and explore the map, find the secrets or whatever else takes your fancy. At this point the cutscenes all but vanish. Then its back to the story for the "end game". If you want something without cutscenes, then the handheld versions are a good place to start.

I will if I replay the game. Don't like to on first plays, since It kills my sense of satisfaction. As long as I play during the day I can hear the missile packs. But early morning I have the sound right down so as not to wake anyone up.

What would that make TOEE

Umm... Looking at the size of those maps I'm not sure I want to. Then again I could use some extra missiles for Meta Ridley anyway. Extra health tank or two wouldnt hurt either I guess.

Japan :D

Time for another round. It's crazy I can get him down to 10% without any problem. But that last 10% is a killer. Oh I didnt know that. I think I have around 70%

In that case go for it. Ranged weapons are very effective with the right feats. Probably not as effective as twin sabers, but most things wont even get into melee range on Malachor. I did have to use sabers on our friendly little stage II end boss though. Although I could have just used powers I guess.

Looks like they just figured out a way to have a brawl and make it difficult for people to catch them.

The genre has changed , that change occured around the time of FFVII. Prior to that there were no in game movies (although there were cutscenes) and the anthologies (FF) have had movies added. Even with the FF series, the game system is different from game to game. FFX-2 is pretty non typical for a JRPG for a number of reasons. It has a female party , it's non linear in nature. How you play will impact on your final "reward" you need to score in the 90's to get the full scene. It's similiar in many ways to the Suikoden series. You only get the good ending if you recruit all 108 stars (NPC's) So to say JRPGs dont have choices, isnt really correct. Rather they dont have obvious choices that you just pick from a menu. Although again there are exceptions. Shadow Hearts II has two distinct endings, although the wording of the options is kind of subtle. Shin Megami:Nocturne has 8 endings. Six normal and two secret, which again depend on how you play the game. The game has an absolutely INSANE encounter rather though. So in a nutshell, aside from the dramatic cutscenes (which are very common and almost universal) JRPGs are very different from each other. For every stereotype you can find an exception.

Yes ranged weapons work with sneak attack. Insanity, stasis or any of the other disabling powers. Not sure why you would want to be a consular though, if weapons are your primary attack method. If you go for a consular and DS then you may as well force spam everything. It's faster.

They are all pretty good. I've just bought people a pink or blue DS with Nintendogs. Cant really think of what to get my Father as usual.

MetaRidley is seriously annoying when on his last sliver of health. If I can actually kill the it should be at the end today, or perhaps tommorow depending what crops up. Excellent game though. Really pushes the definition of FPS, as well as being something every GC owner should have. Still not sure about Hunters on the DS.

Nice. I payed

I killed it yesterday and it wasnt easy. The key to most of the bosses is to scan them. Much like Zelda, it's not about being super fast it's about finding out the weakness of the creature you are facing. Something that I discovered after my 8th Omega Pirate :"> But I was kind of enjoying shooting things.

Before you can do that you need to have a fixed history. KOTOR dosnt have a fixed history , or a cohesive way of arriving at the conclusion like Xenosaga does. People are still arguing over what gender the central character is and thats kind of important in a movie.

Me too , although that wasnt always the case. What I have found recently though is that the things I used to enjoy about Western RPGs are disapearing from the design anyway. KOTOR/II,Jade Empire all as good as pregenerated characters , but without the story that an established identity would allow for. Both KOTOR and Jade Empire annoyed me greatly since they took control of what was supposed to be my character so they could play out some stupid plot twists. "There is a hole in your defence". "Really" ? "ummm wonder how that could have gotten there". Character comes to the only logical conclusion yet does nothing to address the problem since it's required for a plot twist. Now if thats supposed to be my character why cant I train out the hole ? Why do I have to wait till I've been killed before I can train it out ? The only reason is because the designers wanted that twist and did everything to make sure it happens.

Got to love those movies. KOTOR isnt really structured in a way that you could copy what Xenosaga did though. As for exclusivity, well MS would obviously want it on the 360. I dont think Sony care too much since they have much more attractive prospects. But common sense would dictate if your not playing for a particular team then you maximize your earning potential.

True, but it will be gameplay elements that I will focus on. Not the package they are wrapped up in. I've played Crickets sims, cant say I've played bridge on a computer. I'm not fond of platform games, or driving games. But purely on a gameplay level. Yes there are a lot of JRPGs. But it really depends on your definition of what anime is. If you think that FFX is anime, then dont bother. What do you mean by create a character ? Do you mean create your own character with it's own background and history ?Because thats becoming something that games dont do much anyway these days. No offence, but how would I know what you would and would not identify with ? Varn looks odd, but he's quite a likeable chap, probably more so than Tidus (at least at the start). It's not my job to "sell" JRPGs. But by dismissing them on such a level, you are missing out on both fantastic stories and some great gameplay.

Clearly not since everyone has their own version.

Nah, they are just as happy blowing up Iraqi's.

He seems to have a pretty solid idea of how the real world works. Where as you want it to be some sort of fantasy land with no basis in reality. So while you feel all smug and superior think about this. The only reason you get the luxury is because people like him fought and died to grant you the privilage.

Try Metroid Prime. If you happen to have a GameCube. It's not your typical FPS thats for sure.

Only if someone links to it.