What game are you currently playing?

[DaBatGuy]

I'm finally playing Outrun Online Arcade now that I found a way to purchase on the EU PSN. Great fun, definitely going to keep me occupied until the SASASR demo release next week. I'd also be playing Crash Team Racing right now but that ugly PAL-NTSC conversion issue reared its head.

Besides that I'm playing through Trine and screwing around with the new unlimited character DLC for Blazblue.

[Thirsty Pocket]

Beat Sonic CD... the game froze before the anime ending sequence began though.

[-Mark-]

Finished Turnabout Goodbyes on my DS copy of Phoenix Wright, about to finally start Rise From The Ashes.

Bloody thing better be good, I've effectively paid £20 almost solely for this one arc. >.>

[Conando]

Finally got around to starting Mass Effect 2. My bro bought it when it first came out, but I haven't gotten the chance to play it until now.

[Thirsty Pocket]

Played Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops today. I loved all 4 MGS games to death, but this game friggin sucks! There also appears to be less humor in this one... which is a drag after MGS3 ended up bein the one with the most humor in the series.

[Unused Account]

I am currently playing Super Smash Bros. Melee, as well as a bit of Sonic 2 and 3 on the side.

[Light]

Damn you Atlus and your Holiday server changes!

I was planning on finishing the Selvaria dlc for Valkyria Chronicles that I bought a long time ago but I couldn't pass up on another Pure White Tendency event in Demon's Souls. God, that's all I ever post about in this thread. x_x

I'm ready to end New Game+ in Demon's Souls. I thought my second play-through would be a cake walk, but SHIT. It was worse and even more difficult! First off, Ostrava was killed for some bizarre reason. I didn't even witness his death, so I couldn't save Yuria as a result. Flamelurker was a bitch and after dying countless times, I made the decision to gimp him. This can be such an unforgiving game at times... ugh. I'm at the end of 3-2 trying to figure out a way to kill Maneater. 3-2, 3-3 and 1-4 are the only levels I have left until I'm done with this nightmare of a New Game+... then it's onward to New Game++!! I must get all trophies!!

Update: Tower of Latria Sucks. Maneater sucks. I hate them both so much, and it sucks that they're together. I always get knocked off the edge :/

Edited February 14, 2010 by Light

[Semi-colon e]

Started a Metroid Prime Hard Mode run, despite still having Pikmin to play. I've already got the Varia suit, and I'm finding it MUCH easier than I did on my first run, though the Frigate was almost troublesome as I didn't remember half of it. I think apart from bosses, Metroid games are usually easier the later you go as you have more health.

But yeah, I need to try Pikmin sometime. And maybe get further in Sonic Chronicles, because my mate did buy it for me (another bought Pikmin actually).

[Carbo]

Just rediscovered the two embodiments of awesome; Sonic CD and Spinball (MegaDrive ofcourse)

[Scott]

Currently playing through Timeshift with a bit of Guitar Hero/Rockband at the side

[Mollfie]

Pokemon Pearl while I wait for HeartGold <3

[Chili Dawg]

Just got Excitebots: Trick Racing, which is awesome, and I'm ashamed to be one of the many people who neglected it when it came out. I'm finding it surprisingly difficult in some parts, though I may just suck.

[SuperLink]

Just got Excitebots: Trick Racing, which is awesome, and I'm ashamed to be one of the many people who neglected it when it came out. I'm finding it surprisingly difficult in some parts, though I may just suck.

Did I mention that I hate Nintendo for not releasing that game in Europe? I was really excited about it too, I loved ExciteTruck.

Right now I'm still playing Persona 3 mostly, I've just met Aigis. Although I feel a craving to play Muramasa approaching.

[Cake]

Well, after pulling an all-nighter in Monster Hunter Freedom Unite on the PSP with some friends, I've finally hit Hunter Rank 9! So I've been playing that quite a bit recently, as well as Fallout 3, which has sucked me back into it's world of Super Mutants, Deathclaws and Raiders. Still have quite a bit of the DLC to go through too; I wonder if I can clear the whole game and get 1550 internetpen0rGAMERscore.

[MADMONKEY]

I've got quite a few games on the go at the moment.

Assassins Creed 1 for the 360. Wow, just wow. I can't believe it's taken so long for me to actually play this game. It's a brilliant game, set in a time period which i don't usually find myself in. You can say it's a bit repetitive at times, and fair enough it's true. But pulling of that perfect assassination makes it all worth while.

Aliens vs Predator 2 on the PC. I'm probably on my 30th play through of this truly incredible game. I suppose I'm warming up for the release of the new AvP game this Friday. But if it manages to top AvP 2 then i will be mightily impressed. Even now almost a decade after i bought it AvP2 still scares me from time to time.

Finally I'm working on both Metroid Prime games on the GC. Another series which I've only just discovered. Metroid Prime is probably on the of the best First Person Shooters i have ever played. The atmosphere is top class and in my opinion the game manages to create one of the most isolated experiences i have ever had the pleasure of being part of. I'm considering buying a Wii for the 3rd Prime game, but not many Wii titles catch my eye and I'm not a huge fan of the nunchuck and Wii remote stuff. I just wanna know if Secret Rings and Black Knight are any good. Can't buy a new console and not have a Sonic game on it.

[-Mark-]

Finished Rise From The Ashes in Phoenix Wright a couple of days ago.

Was certainly a good arc, but 'good' is as far as I'd go, really. I don't know if it was because I was playing the arc whilst ill with a cold, or because I was stressing over malware on my laptop at the same time, but something about the arc just felt like it dragged a bit by the end.

Granted, it's the longest arc by far out of the entire Ace Attorney series (I'm guessing they wanted to add something special for the first DS rerelease), so I certainly got my money's worth even when you consider I practically bought the DS version just for that one arc. I can't help but have a slight nagging feeling that it all started to fall apart under the weight of its own ambition toward the end, though.

I mean, ultimately, did Gant even have a proper motive? Okay, he killed the second guy to stop the case from being reopened, but why did he kill the that prosecutor guy in the SL-9 incident to begin with? I can understand his motives for framing Ema so he could blackmail Lana and control the prosecutor's office, but why kill the guy in the first place? He had no motive to kill that guy in particular, and murdering just for the sake of being able to frame and control someone seems a bit stupid.

Edited February 16, 2010 by Mahzes

[Iceman Etika]

I completely agree, SPOILER ALERT although him wanting to control her is understandable as a motive, still, to go through such complex lengths to kill the prosecutor was a bit much, I loved how he cracked more and more as the case went on, it became something 100% different from what it began as. O_O

-Iceman

[-Mark-]

But yeah, I did find the ending a tad disappointing in that, as I said, the motive is unrealistically stupid, which in turn makes the whole case seem a bit stupid and over-the-top.

It's awkward, I think having Rise From The Ashes tacked on the end of the first game sort of cheapens the ending to Turnabout Goodbyes. If you ask me, I'd say it would actually work better as DLC like they're doing for WiiWare, but, unlike they're doing for WiiWare, Rise From The Ashes should still be released between the first and second games.

It's the sort of thing that feels like, if Ace Attorney were an anime, each main game would be a series, and Rise From The Ashes would be a straight-to-DVD OVA mini-series released between the first and second ones. As it is, tacked on to the end of the first game, it feels like it cheapens the game's actual ending somewhat, at least to me.

[SuperLink]

It's awkward, I think having Rise From The Ashes tacked on the end of the first game sort of cheapens the ending to Turnabout Goodbyes.

Even if I don't agree with you on Rise From The Ashes, I agree with this. It definitely does cheapen Turnabout Goodbyes a little, and make you forget about it, especially since Edgeworth is in it, and he's all fine and dandy for the most part despite what he had gone through not long before.

However I think Rise From The Ashes ended ok.

Gant was quite clearly one of those power insane lunatics who would just dispose of people he didn't need if he would gain from it. The circumstances were so perfect, all he had to do was make a few moves and he would be able to control everything, he would easily become one of the most powerful people around. He would be untouchable.

It was a little Deus Ex Machina how it all just happened while most people were unconscious though.

Edited February 16, 2010 by Lyra

[-Mark-]

Maybe it's because I love Turnabout Goodbyes so much (it's tied with Bridge to the Turnabout, daresay I might even like Goodbyes ever-so-slightly more, still) that having RFTA tacked on that end irks me more than it should have. D:

Also, I suppose having it as the final arc out of all the current ones (not counting Investigations, which isn't out yet, obviously) didn't help. Namely in that, whilst it is quite blatantly filler/ retcon anyway, having finished the rest of the series already, it was that much more evident to me.

Okay, I suppose you could ultimately label quite a few of the arcs 'filler', and a lot of Apollo Justice is clearly tacked-on/ borderline retcon, but that doesn't stop them being good. Like I said, I suppose it all just seems a bit extreme, given Gant's motives. If he were portrayed as more of a power-crazed nutjob it might seem more believable, but when he spends most of his screentime smiling and acting nice (even if it is an act), it's just a little unconvincing, I found.

[SuperLink]

Okay, I suppose you could ultimately label quite a few of the arcs 'filler', and a lot of Apollo Justice is clearly tacked-on/ borderline retcon, but that doesn't stop them being good.

Yup, even then some of the best cases are arguably "filler", just because the individual plots and situations are so unique in many cases. Also I don't consider Rise From The Ashes as filler, considering it acts as a kind of prelude to Apollo Justice, what with Ema and all.

Like I said, I suppose it all just seems a bit extreme, given Gant's motives. If he were portrayed as more of a power-crazed nutjob it might seem more believable, but when he spends most of his screentime smiling and acting nice (even if it is an act), it's just a little unconvincing, I found.

We'll just have to agree to disagree on that one then. For me, Rise From The Ashes started out boring and just got better and better and better, with the conclusion being no exception.

[-Mark-]

It's funny, I thought almost the exact opposite. Found it relatively interesting at first, with the supposed 'same person dying in two places at the same time' thing, but the end just felt overly anticlimatic and like a bit of a cop-out, to me. D:

Incidentally, I know I used the term earlier, but in fairness I don't think you can call anything in Ace Attorney pure 'filler'. I mean, even if you look at them harshly and say that anything not related to the Fey family isn't important in terms of the overall plot, earlier arcs still introduce characters and such. And as I said, overall plot relevance or not, it doesn't stop them from being good.

Hell, if you look at it in terms of 'filler', only a handful of the arcs are actually essential. But that wouldn't be any fun. D:

I'm actually wondering if they'll ever release the original Ace Attorney trilogy on a single DS card. I'm sure they could all fit on one, and it would be pretty nifty. Can't say I'm certain I'd get it though, having got all the games (and the first on WiiWare, too), but it would be cool.

[BlueFlare]

I've been extremely bored with the consoles lately and slowly becoming a PC gamer again (which is good). I've been playing some Diablo 2, Dawn Of War 2 and also tried to install a mod for Battlefield 2 but it didn't work for some reason. Hopefully I'll get that problem fixed soon because I'm really in a BF (Project Reality) mood atm.

[Vertekins]

Chrono Trigger on DS. I bought it only today and my! What a masterpiece it is already! And it's nearly 15 years old! Just goes to show that great game design never ages.

I've recently been 'going off' my games mainly because of little motivation to play and internet distracting me but Chrono Trigger is bringig me back ito the fold again.

[SuperLink]

Chrono Trigger on DS. I bought it only today and my! What a masterpiece it is already! And it's nearly 15 years old! Just goes to show that great game design never ages.

I've recently been 'going off' my games mainly because of little motivation to play and internet distracting me but Chrono Trigger is bringig me back ito the fold again.

Chrono Trigger proves once again that nostalgia has nothing to do with how brilliant it is. I only bought it for the first time on DS too.

I'm currently playing Persona 3 mainly, I'm stuck on this fucking Tartarus boss called "Natural Dancer", it's horrible, it just spams charm moves until my party kills themselves!! but I'm also playing Super Monkey Ball 4: Step & Roll and Star Ocean 4: The Last Hope International on the side. SMB4 has to be my least favourite Monkey Ball so far, if it keeps up at this rate. The stages just aren't very "fun". The music is nice as usual.

Should probably start playing FFCC:CB soon too.

Edited February 17, 2010 by Lyra