What games have you recently bought or plan to buy?

Oh heck yah, good pick up. Warrior Within is one of my favorite games. Enjoy!

Warrior Within is a goldmine, enjoy man!

I did a lot of digging around about it, seems like an incredible game. Hopefully I don’t encounter any bad bugs or crashes.

It's one of my all time favourites, so I'm curious to hear if you'll like it! Make a topic down the line I'd say, let us know what you think!

The only tip I can give you is to rotate saves. I.e. when you save, save in slot 1. Then your next save in slot 2. Then the next time you save in slot 1 again, etc. A good practice in general but the game has some really derpy copies floating around and USA copies are especially broken at times.

> @Infinity_Divide Resistance 3

Just played Resistance 1 and 2 on emulator. Had a Blast with 2. Fantastic game. Everyone bitches about 2 because of the weapon limit and it being to hard. I love the weapon limit as it forces you to use different stuff, also it wasn't that hard. Felt just right.

Resistance 3, unfortunately doesn't work great on emulator yet. It sucks because that game was amazing from what I played. Shooting was fantastic. I will have to get a ps3 or wait for emulation to get a bit better.

Tried some Killzone 2 as well. It is almost at 30fps not quite there.
Also you can't pass the motion control sections on emulator without an actual DS3 .
At 4k it looks like a ps4 game. So insane what that game did.

Just an FYI for anyone with a PS4 - Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition will be free on 19th April as part of the Play at Home promotion. Had a little think about picking it up while it's on sale on PC at the moment, but I'd be silly not to wait and play it for free!

> Resistance 3
I blasted through that one on PS3 about a year ago? Was pretty fun, had a lot of cool, wacky guns. I remember people saying it was really refreshing for 2011, because for once, it wasn't just another military shooter with a 2 weapon limit.

> HZD
Might give that another go at some point on PC. Played it on PS4 about 3 years ago (Goddamn, time flies), and didn't like it. Might enjoy it more now, though.

I bought Dreams. Although I am not good at them, I do enjoy creation games.

I'm considering the SMT3 remaster on PS4.

> SMT3
I'd consider it too if it wasn't a near full price game. The remaster doesn't look transformative enough for the asking price so I'll wait for a sale.

Picked up a few PS5/PS4 games - was waiting til payday to buy Returnal, and I got good deals on Gran Turismo Sport and The Last of Us 2 (got them for £18 total). Not sure how much Returnal I'll get to play this weekend but I'll create a thread for it when I've got some impressions (if we don't have one already).

>SMT3

One of the best games ever made. Have you played the series?

They casualized the remake by letting you choose your fusion inherited spells. Before it was random but you could re-roll it. So it was very hard to get the absolute best demons with the best spells, because the inherit rates were so low. Now everyone will have perfect demons.
No thanks.

Nah. I think that having chosen inheritance is better. I know that this is a statement that this forum hates, but it wasn't 'difficult' to get the best demons, it was just tedious. It was literally just testing your patience to see how much you were willing to spam re-rolls, in which they were unlimited, so there was no in-game downside, or resource expended if you constantly re-rolled beyond your real-life time being wasted. It really wasn't that much of a mechanic.

I truly disagree. Some rolls were literally like a .01% chance.
I guarantee you took lesser demons countless times, because you didn't have it in you to keep rolling.
That settling for less is the intended game design and the art as it was created and intended by the devs.
I see why they changed it though. Players like a power fantasy, and that is how they have done the modern smts.

I picked up SMT3. I’ve never played the series aside from a few hours of SMT4, and Persona 4 and 5. So far I like it but the terrible audio quality of the music is annoying me.

>0.1% chance
Is there actually a chart that maps out the likelihood of skill inheritance in SMT3? If you find one, let me know.

>Intended design
Perhaps so, but based on scrolling through various GameFAQs, and reddit threads... It seems that a lot of players really ARE willing to re-roll constantly to get exactly what they wanted. And pre-HD Remaster, a lot of people would be playing Nocturne on an emulator as opposed to on native hardware. So they could just speed up the game, while constantly re-rolling to make the process massively faster. I would know, because that's exactly what I did when I played the game for the very first time 4 years ago. Subsequent playthroughs, I happened to care way less, but there you go.

>Power fantasy
Apocalypse actually had a really good fusion system; While any and all skills are inheritable by choice, they also added in the affinity mechanic, meaning that certain elemental skills work better for certain demons, while other skills are basically useless in the hands of that demon (Whether it be lowered affliction rates, higher costs, or lowered damage), encouraging you to specialize when fusing demons. Would love to see this mechanic come back in V. I have no idea if they carried that over to Strange Journey Redux, though.

Devil Survivor Overclocked also did a good thing with forcing you to dedicate 3 skills to active commands, and 3 skills to passives.

>Have you played the series?
No.

>perfect demon
Define perfect.

>statement that this forum hates
What statement? That something wasn't difficult?

>That settling for less is the intended game design
What is less? Are we talking stats?

How customizable are the demons?

>Define perfect.
A demon that nulls most elements a boss uses and can cast the bosses weakness. Would be ideal.
A lot of time you end up fusing specific demons for one boss that gives you trouble.
If the boss spams group physical attacks, then fuse a group that reflect physical.
Easier said than done.

>How customizable are the demons?

Essentially infinitely.
You can build a single demon that is null to every element if you fuse long enough. You can absolutely break a lot of bosses if you know what to fuse.
Some end bosses have counters too this. There is an element almighty that has no resistance.

>perfect
Not for me. That doesn't sound fun. How good are status effects? Work on bosses?

>fusing
Any good tutorials?
How grindy is it?

Might grab the PS4 version.

>status effects?
They can be very powerful. Sleep, Paralyze, Charm are usually good. It is based on luck stat and demons can be fused with passives that increase chances.
Some bosses they work on some they don't. End game bosses usually not.
Digital Devil Saga 1 and 2 are probably better for status effects as in that game they are classified as a weakness in those games. If you don't know hitting an enemies weakness gives your team bonus turns and vice versa.
Same goes for hitting their resistance only the opposite they lose turns.
Digital Devil Saga 1 and 2 use a sphere grid type system and is not about fusion, so you could really lean into status effects. One of the characters in that game is status effect focused, though any character can go any direction on the skill tree, it is free form IIRC.
That game is a good place to start for SMT, I played it before Nocturne.
They are some of my favorite SMT games, story is basically the matrix.


>fusing
Any good tutorials?
I honestly have no idea where to start. I learned through a ton of trial and error.

How grindy is it?
Not so bad on normal mode. You can pull out any demon you have had previously as long as you have money. Mid game-end game you can do damn near any fusion you want, that is when it gets fun trying to make really badass dudes.

On hard mode you get like half money and xp, absolute chore.

>Digital Devil Saga 1 and 2 are probably better for status effects
I'll grab ISOs for these.

I bought Nocturne just now. Found out there are only 4 copies in my country.

>fusing
Looked up a few videos tutorials. Will look further into them when I start the game.

>grind
I read there's an easy mode DLC that removes all challenge. Wonder if it boosts exp. If it does I might get it just for build testing.

Is there NG+?

>hard mode
Anything unique about it or just bloated stats?

>just bloated stats?
Pretty much. You can die on the first fight if the RNG works out bad. There is nothing you can do about it as you only have the attack command.

>Is there NG+
Yes and a lot of SMT games have NG+ only quests and bosses.

Doesn't NG+ let you carry over maxed demons?

I just read the DLC difficulty does boost exp and money.

I can't find any good videos on fusing.

Is it as simple as just mashing two together to get a new one? Stats go up and you choose which skills to carry over?

Any weird mechanics that could leave you with a worse version?

There are set recipes for everything, they are based off the class/family/type etc. of  the demon.
Try to find a scan of the original ps2 manual online.
Edit:
That manual was bad.

For the most part you have a party of 3 demons that are your fighters.
The rest are just crap/fodder you collect a long the way.
The best thing to do with the crap/fodder demons is just make new demons, fill out the compendium, so you can pull out those demons later if you need to.
Some late game fuses require very specific demons.

Occasionally those crap/fodder demons will fuse into something half decent, you then fuse that half decent demon into one of your original 3 fighters.
That's about it.
You could easily get to the end of the game and trace the lineage of your final team back to your main guys you started with.
Because they just kept inheriting the old teams moves.
There is a special item room that opens up at the end of the game if you keep the original pixie you meet in the game with you.
You can fuse the pixie into new demons but you have to keep track of who she is fusing into, and keep them.

I just remembered I have one of those Raidou games. Barely touched it like 10 years ago. Any good. I recall being able to move freely, attack and dodge.

First one is ass. Second one is a very good AJRPG.
Tales like.
The second one allows you to hold a button to make your demons invincible and has a very good and fast dodge, you can avoid all damage very well for the most part.

Any customization?

In Nocturne is there any end game dungeon where you can put your demons to the test?

I might play on Merciful for the extra exp to get to fusing faster then switch difficulty to hard later.

Is there any benefit to delaying evolution?

>switch difficulty to hard later.
Not sure if you can on the remake, you couldn't on ps2.

>end game dungeon
There is in most smts.
It isn't that hard in nocturne save for a few bosses.

>Is there any benefit to delaying evolution?
Not sure what you mean by this.

>switch difficulty
You can.

>delay evolution
When they are about to evolve, you have the choice to stop it.

>When they are about to evolve
Other than like a one off instance there is no evolution. Demons get stronger from fusing them into different demons.
They do level up with you, but it is slow.

Saw a list of around 10. My fairy just evolved.

Even though I'm on Merciful mode, what stats would you pick for the main character? Any stats that are a waste?

I need to look up recruitment too. Sometimes it just works and they beg for items. Other times they just scream. I caught one by lowering it's HP too I think.

I hate the battle music.

On Merciful the encounter rate is lower. So stupid. It already makes you near unstoppable.

I'm using the exp DLC. You get thin grimoire or thick. Thin is some exp and thick is enough for a level up. You actually have to get into a fight to get the level up.

It's really easy to do on Merciful but the encounter rate makes it slow.

Just got the PS5 version of Judgement and a physical copy of Streets of Rage 4.

>Nocturne
I’m curious to hear your thoughts on it later on. I’ve only played it a few hours.

>Saw a list of around 10. My fairy just evolved.
It is such a minor thing that I forgot it was in the game.

>Sometimes it just works and they beg for items. Other times they just scream.
It is mostly random. There isn't a perfect answer. I believe if you save state on emulator, the same answer will work and won't if you keep loading. High luck helps IIRC.

>encounter rate
Find or Fuse a demon with Estoma. It stops all encounters for the moon cycle. I use Estoma for all of my progression and dungeons, then grind up when I get to a save area usually.

>stops all encounters
I want the opposite. Merciful lowers the encounter rate.

Not really enjoying it that much and went back to DQ11.

The status effects don't work often enough and recruiting is annoying. I hate the battle music too.

Seems like there's a lot to it in terms of building teams and such but not sure if I can be bothered. After getting a taste of western RPGs I'm now finding JRPGs hard to stomach.

Oi, @hedfone. Turns out a few months ago, EirikrJS, one of the most knowledgeable SMT fans I know, made a post about Nocturne's demon fusion system. WAY more in-depth than I realized, so you definitely had a point.

https://eirikrjs.blogspot.com/2021/03/nocturne-fusion.html

Regardless, I think SMT V's fusion system will also hold over Apocalypse's affinity system that makes demons specialize in certain elements, but weak in other areas. So that should keep things in check. There are a fuckton of other ways that they could build on the fusion system though, so I'm also looking forward to those.

Just got a shitload of games on Steam, stuff like Killer 7, multiple SC games, Prey, etc. Also decided there was no avoiding it and got DmC: DE. I played it in the past but have never actually owned it or really got into it.

I got the OLED Switch, the Super Nintendo Classic, Serious Sam Next Encounter (PAL version on Gamecube), Custom Robo, Pokemon XD, and Pikman 1 and 2. Those are some of the stuff I got since I don't want to list everything.

How is the OLED? I've been curious about it for a while now.

I got quite a few games for the OG Xbox recently:

Fatal Frame 1 + 2 ( I have shared my opinions of 1 in other threads, highly recommended, haven't tried 2 yet)

Otogi 1 + 2 (which I won't play on original hardware due to framerate)

Also got Genma Onimusha, Jet Set Radio Future, Buffy (Xbox exclusive), Rockstar's The Warriors, Tenchu Return From Darkness, PoP Warrior Within (for the Xbox only extra modes), Gunvalkyrie (rumored to become backward compatible soon), NG2004 (curious to see the differences), DoAU and Def Jam Fight For NY.

Speaking of Def Jam, I have tried it for a bit, framerate is surprisingly erratic but it's really fun. Apparently it also has a competitive scene with tournaments and all that stuff. Did anyone here play it? I've never been into fighting games, but it's in a full 3d space and feels like an arena brawler.

I'm also interested in DoAU (also rumored to become backwards compatible soon along with DoA3), but only because of how much I love NG, and I've also heard it's considered the best DoA by many players.

Lot of great games on that list GN, can vouch for some of them at the very least. Genma Onimusha is without a doubt (in my eyes) the definitive Onimusha game, and at least the best version of the original game.

Regarding DoAU, it really is the best entry. Dead or Alive 2 had a really really broken history of releases due to the C.E.O. shafting Itagaki (he asked for a demo-build to try at home, only to send that to the release press because he felt Itagaki was too perfectionist). Later releases were a ton of hotfixes for bugs. DoAU has the least bugs, cleanest visuals, upgrades the Hold system a bit more and has an absolutely criminal amount of costumes. I still play it nearly weekly, despite having no-one to play it with.

That said, DoA is also my favourite fighting-game series/system, so I'm biased. But it's also their best entry. Felt the series lost some of its charm from 3 and onwards.

>NG2004
Definitely worth trying, especially the Essence system is interesting.

> rumored BC
Link to these rumors? I really hope they'd pick up the BC-program again.

https://www.trueachievements.com/n47300/xbox-backwards-compatibility-new-games-rumour

These are based on store listings that since went down. Can't wait to dive into Gunvalkyrie. DoAU looks spectacular graphically (and surprisingly similar to DoA4 despite the platform differences).

I've actually heard the story about the PS2 version of DoA2 and how Itagaki was depressed because of it. He truly cares about making the best games he can, as shown with all the revisions of NG2004 as well.

There's a follow-up to that Itagaki story as well. When NGII's disc had to be shipped to Microsoft USA for testing, he instead flew over there with the test-disc on person. That event definitely left a mark.

> BC rumor
Looks fantastic! I kind of hope they'll bring the online back too. I'd love to play some DoAU online!

Bringing back OG Xbox live would be awesome, I would love to play Unreal Championship 2 not against bots, but sadly I can't see that ever happening.

Such a shame servers like that were taken offline. I know it's a cost and security issue, but in a perfect world it'd be cool to see just a single server be kept up that supports the old titles on older systems.

That said BC has always been fantastic. Splinter Cell 1 even gave you the hard-to-get DLC missions for free which was fantastic. Just such a pro-consumer concept.

Recently bought Drake of the 99 Dragons for XBOX. Very interested in engaging with its camera system. I refuse to believe a game with wall-running can be as truly bad as it has been described. Edit: Have to rebuy this for a disc that works.

Nadster wrote:I got the OLED Switch, the Super Nintendo Classic, Serious Sam Next Encounter (PAL version on Gamecube), Custom Robo, Pokemon XD, and Pikman 1 and 2. Those are some of the stuff I got since I don't want to list everything.

You really have your hands full with Gamecube games. Did you mean to buy a PAL game?

I did mean to buy a PAL game. Mostly out of interest.

OLED> It's really good so far. A couple of nitpicks(selecting user when there is only one user) but nothing really troubling.