The Advance Wars sounds very interesting...

I won't have friends to play against, so I'll refrain from Mario Kart for the moment...

The rest seem cool, I'll try and pick up 2-3 games. RPGs are always fun. I played WOW for years, and the "find items and make your guy tougher" genre has always interested me.

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Originally posted by MasterWolf:
A long RPG is fine. I've never had the time to get into FF, but now could be the time.

RPGs are always fun. I played WOW for years, and the "find items and make your guy tougher" genre has always interested me.

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Well, that is the essence of FF3 (and most of the versions of FF, with a few exceptions). From the very beginning, your characters start off with no armor and armed with only daggers, knives, or short swords. You search through caves, fight monsters, and level up your characters and throughout it all, find or purchase better items. Your White Mage gets a White Robe to replace a leather vest and can better defend against magic attacks. You Warrior gets a Crystal Helm to replace a Steel Helmet and takes less damage in combat. Your Black Mage learns to use a Thunder spell, then upgrades to Thundara, and finally Thundaga for increasingly larger amounts of damage.

In FF3, as you progress through the game, you get different groups of classes to choice from, more being available as you play through the game - not all are available from the start. The more advanced classes allow for more magic use, weapons only usable by that class which allow for more damage, and unique abilities not available to other classes. One of my personal favorites is getting a character equipped with a Blood weapon (which are relatively rare), which allows him/her to regain health equal to a fraction of the damage he/she deals.

While some of the promo material points out that there are millions of different combinations for your team, realistically, the number is smaller, but you still get to customize your team to your own liking, and multiple run-throughs give you a chance to try different strategies. (It's like computing how many different Magic decks you can build. Technically it's some ridiculously huge number, but format restrictions, horribly bad decks like all land, no land, and all land and creature decks are discounted, and general archetypes bring that number down to a more reasonable number. Still, even if you only count one color and two color decks and play just aggro, aggro-control, control, and combo decks, that leaves 60 different possible "decks", not including different variations.)

Also, keep in mind that you can probably play any GB, GBC, or GBA game in existence as well. There are still some awesome games in previous generations that you might be able to borrow from friends or whatnot, so don't close the door to just getting DS games if your DS is backwards compatible - open the whole shelf. Fire Emblem, 4 Super Mario Advance games, and FFTA also exist as well.

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Advance Wars: Days of Ruin (they didn't have the other version)
Final Fantasy III
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

Got em all used, and they were under $20 each. I feel like I got a good mix. What do you guys think?

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Originally posted by MasterWolf:
Ok, so after a trip to the local Gamestop, this is what I ended up with:

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin (they didn't have the other version)
Final Fantasy III
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

Got em all used, and they were under $20 each. I feel like I got a good mix. What do you guys think?

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I've never played any Castlevania title, so I can't say anything about that. FF3 for under $20 is a steal, IMO, but I have a soft spot in my heart for anything before FF8. With most people searching for either 7 or 13, 3 is going to go for comparatively little.

I should have warned you about AW: DoR. It's really not the same thing. AW: DS built off of the first two titles for the GBA, and added the Megatank and Stealth, as well as changed the Cruiser so it could attack ships. AW: DoR is a big overhaul to the series (and thus, the reason you could find it). The other titles are much better, and thus harder to find, and I've found that AW: DS is next to impossible to find, unless you go online. AW: DoR is still available at GameStop, Target, and Best Buy. It's the same reason why FF7 tends to be harder to find (and more expensive) - it's a decent title that people who have played it are often not willing to resell.

I've only seen one used AW: DS *ever* being sold, and it wasn't at a Gamestop. And it was definitely *NOT* under $20.

It's still an okay game, but while I got all 300/300 medals on AW: DS, I fell far short on AW: DoR (also, some of the "achievements"/medals require you to play multiplayer games with someone in the same room and with someone on the network which aren't always possible for me). But, that's a minor thing compared to the fact that there were major changes, which for someone like me who has played all three previous titles, is a bit jarring. The characters and their abilities were more or less steady through the pre-DoR titles. Max, Andy, Sami, Kanbei, and others have been in the game the whole time, and the way you power up the characters works the same way - you get a power meter which goes up as you take damage or deal damage to any of your units. DoR made two significant changes (and a few minor ones):

1) The setting is completely different, and thus NONE of the previous characters carried over. So, it'd be like if Street Fighter IV nixed Ken, Ryu, Chun-Li, Guile, and Blanka. It'd still be the same game in name, but it also just wouldn't be the same and the feel would be very different, unless you just started playing and every character is new to you.

2) The powers work completely different. Before, your characters had two kinds of powers - there is a static ability which constantly is on. Colin always makes all your units cheaper. Sami always gets a 50% increase on her captures of cities. The second kind of power was an activated power that you built up with your power meter and you got to use once you got to a certain level. AW: DS even introduced a super power that increased the power over the normal one. Sometimes it was an extension of the first power (Andy healed 2 to all your units with the first power, 5 with the second power) and sometimes it was a completely different power (Colin gave you a 50% bonus to your money with his first, and gave you a power bonus depending on how much money you had with his second power). But, most importantly, with only one exception (Sasha using her power), your power meter would not decrease.

DoR tied in your power to your CO. Now, you have to put your CO into a unit (which costs 50% of the unit's cost to build) and the static ability only applies to units adjacent to the unit with your CO. Your power meter goes up as your CO's unit deals damage or adjacent units deal damage, but if your CO's unit is ever destroyed, your power meter completely goes down to 0. It makes using your non-static power much more difficult. Proponents of the new title tout its more balanced game play with the removal of broken COs and powers. To me, it seems like removing Instants from Magic and claiming it makes the game more fair.

There were several other minor changes, most of which don't rub me the right way, either. In the previous titles, your units that could capture were Infantry (which cost 1000) and Mechs (which cost 3000). DoR increased the cost of Infantry 50%. That's pretty significant, especially in the early game, where you only get 1000 per city/factory/base you control. So, if you controlled one base, one city, and two factories, previously, you could build two infantry on day one (with 2000 left over), two infantry on day two (with 4000 left over), and build a tank on day three, not even including what you may have captured on day two. Now, the same set up means two infantry on day one (1000 left over), two infantry on day two (with 2000 left over), and a Recon on day three. It means often the early game shifts heavily to just building lots of Infantry for the first several turns and trying to capture like crazy so you have enough money to build tanks or other units. They also introduced a third kind of capturing unit - bikes, which have greater movement, but can't go over mountains or rivers, which are still on every map. So, you pay almost as much as a mech, for less power, less navigation over different terrains, for slightly more movement where there are roads.

The game also introduced a few other new units over the previous titles, a new airplane, which is halfway between a copter and a fighter - stronger than a copter and able to fight ground units, unlike the fighter, but weaker than a fighter in air to air battles. There's an anti-tank unit which is an indirect unit that can also fight back defensively, an interesting twist that does somewhat live up to its name of drawing the emphasis on the game away from just building lots of tanks.

The maps put a MUCH greater emphasis on pre-deployed maps (half of the non-campaign maps feature them), which aren't nearly as fun, IMO. Instead of starting from scratch, you're thrown into the middle of a battle with a set amount of units (although some come with factories and airfields to build more units) and you fight your battles from there. I completely ignored them in DS, but in DoR, they're part of the re-vamped campaign/war room of maps that you get a score for.

The Gamestop Geek was a huge Castlevania fan, and he described it pleasantly, so I think I'll have fun with it.

I was excited to find FF3, and I think I'll have a lot of fun with it. FF games seem like HUGE time-drains, which as it so happens is exactly what I'm looking for.

Sadly, I have to stick to the DoR version of AW, cause they don't have DS. It looks fun so far, playing through the campaign.

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Originally posted by MasterWolf:
Yikes! You make me want to ditch the game, lol!

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I know I gave it a pretty harsh review, but that's only because I'm comparing it to the fact that AW 1 was good, AW 2 was better, and AW DS was the best. Then, DoR took a sharp nosedive. But, it's still better than other turn-based games out there. I bought Age of Empires and I'd still rather play AW: DoR over that. One of the FF titles for the DS was a turn-based game and I'd rather play DoR over that.

It's not that DoR is not fun, it's just *less* fun than you could be having. I've drafted M11 and it's not as fun as drafting expansion sets, but it's still fun to draft.

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Originally posted by ninjazwig:
Why do people complain about camping in war games. What do you think the army does? Do you really think they run out and try to murder everyone? Hell no, not unless they want to come back in a body bag. Camping in halo = silly, camping in modern warfare means you aren't a moron.

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I have Wizardry VII, Lufia II, some Castlevania games, the Bard's Tale, Might and Magic II (or more - who knows), FF6, Chrono Trigger, Master of Orion II, Disgaea I, and a few others left to try or buy for the ones I don't have. Yet to top that off, I have to get Etrian Odyssey I/II and The Dark Spire somehow without ripping my leg off.

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Originally posted by ninjazwig:
So you are saying people shouldn't camp because they respawn? Also, why would they put sniper rifles and such in these games if they didn't think camping was supposed to happen. A 50. cal sniper rifle doesn't really have that run and gun feel to it.

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If a whiny gamer dies to a camper, they complain about camping, if they die to a knifer, they complain about commando pro, if they die to a randomly thrown grenade... guess what... they complain about that too.

If you're playing domination, your team has 2 flags already... if you're NOT camping a flag, you're hurting your team (unless you're one of the games better flanker/rushers).

As for snipers... yes... unless you're godly at quickscoping, your best bet is to post up, get 2-3 kills, and move to another good position covering the last one you were at.

If an enemy sniper is camping in, well, lets say a good sniping camp level like wasteland, they are pretty damn easy to kill. I only run sniping in wasteland with cold blooded and thermal. Snipers generally stand still, making that headshot pretty easy when they have no idea where you are.

Too many people complain about MW2... its actually a pretty balanced game. Yes OMA tubers can get aggrivating, but there is generally a counter for everything.

Halo: Reach
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Medal Of Honor
Dragon Age 2

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Originally posted by shaselai:
what system u got? seems like a 360? If you got a PSP i so suggest Valkyria chronicles 2, kingdom hearts bbs...both coming out in next 2 weeks.

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Yah, its a 360. WTB a good RPG for the 360, something that focuses on gameplay and story instead of just graphics

I just bought it for the hell of it, never being big into these type of games but it looked interesting.

There is so much **** to do, so much stuff to find.

You actually have to balance out like what you carry, and I have found it quite hard to keep ammo for all my guns - I seem to run out pretty easily. It's been a challenge, especially considering I am playing on the very hard difficulty.

Just curious if there are others out there that enjoyed it as much as I do - I've logged 15 hours into it and *SPOILER KINDA* haven't even talked to Three Dog yet. Been doing all the side challenges. *END SPOILER*

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Originally posted by ryan2754:
So anyone else enjoy playing Fallout 3?

I just bought it for the hell of it, never being big into these type of games but it looked interesting.

There is so much **** to do, so much stuff to find.

You actually have to balance out like what you carry, and I have found it quite hard to keep ammo for all my guns - I seem to run out pretty easily. It's been a challenge, especially considering I am playing on the very hard difficulty.

Just curious if there are others out there that enjoyed it as much as I do - I've logged 15 hours into it and *SPOILER KINDA* haven't even talked to Three Dog yet. Been doing all the side challenges. *END SPOILER*

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How to beat fallout 3:

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Originally posted by Malice327:
Yah, its a 360. WTB a good RPG for the 360, something that focuses on gameplay and story instead of just graphics.

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Originally posted by ProfileNotFound:
There are not many 360 RPGs worth playing. Blue Dragon is a pretty good one. It's made by some of the same people who did Chrono Trigger and focuses on storyline and gameplay rather than graphics. Unlike FF13 which I personally didn't like. I also really enjoyed this obscure turn based RPG called Operation Darkness. It has Nazis, Werewolfs, Vampires, and Demons...what's not to like?

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If you play as a Soldier or Infiltrator in either ME, you essentially are playing a TPS that still allows you to control all of your AI's skills though - at the cost of fighting with squishy allies.

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Originally posted by ryan2754:
So anyone else enjoy playing Fallout 3?

I just bought it for the hell of it, never being big into these type of games but it looked interesting.

There is so much **** to do, so much stuff to find.

You actually have to balance out like what you carry, and I have found it quite hard to keep ammo for all my guns - I seem to run out pretty easily. It's been a challenge, especially considering I am playing on the very hard difficulty.

Just curious if there are others out there that enjoyed it as much as I do - I've logged 15 hours into it and *SPOILER KINDA* haven't even talked to Three Dog yet. Been doing all the side challenges. *END SPOILER*

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I loved playing the game, but need to track down a copy of GOTY edition for the PS3 since my PC crashed. Come October, I'll be out of commission for quite a while thanks to Fallout New Vegas.

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