What Did You Do In Gaming Today

[Metro]

Been playing some NBA 2k23 and Elden Ring on the steam deck, super fun 

[Daxter]

7 hours ago, Metro said:

Been playing some NBA 2k23 and Elden Ring on the steam deck, super fun 

That is a great balance of genres!

[Emotion Flux]

On 12/18/2023 at 8:51 PM, Daxter said:

Yeah you are overpowered for sure, but it is a nice reward for your preparation! Unless you go out of your way to level up, you will be set until the last quarter of the main game with what you have now.

I know. lol The Ifrit battle was really underwhelming. I'll wait until I've got all of the characters before I actually level them up though, but I'll be having all of them reach level 100 when I do have all of them in the party. ^^ That'll definitely be more fun. lol

In Final Fantasy VIII Remastered on Switch I've gotten Ifrit to learn all of the abilities that he can before he reaches level 10 and unlocks Mad Rush and Ammo-RF. Luckily enough there's still a space for both of those to pop up whenever he does unlock those abilities. Now, having gone back to Balamb Garden, Quistis has temporarily left the party since she was only with Squall to accompany him to the Fire Cavern to witness his performance in obtaining the Ifrit Guardian Force due to her being an instructor. She's actually the youngest instructor in Balamb Garden, which is pretty impressive. She's definitely a tough one. Now, after replenishing both Quistis' and Squall's stocked Cure magic back up to 100, which is the maximum amount of magic that any character can have stocked, I'm just trying to collect Ruby Dragon from Dr. Kadowaki so I can refine 100 Flares from Inferno Fangs I can obtain from the Ruby Dragon cards. I'll need 10 of them to be able to refine 1 Inferno Fang though, so it'll take a while to get that many. Quezacotl, Shiva, and Ifrit have all learned every ability that they can learn until Shiva learns Doom at level 10 and Ifrit learns Mad Rush and Ammo-RF at level 10. I'll level up those 3 Guardian Forces when in Dollet during the SeeD Field Exam when Seifer Almasy temporarily joins the party for the only time he ever does in the whole game. I like to K.O. Zell and Squall using Seifer so neither of them will gain experience points nor level up. Seifer will gain experience points and level up though, and so will the 3 Guardian Forces until they each reach level 100 because why not? The cool thing is Even after having Seifer reach a level of 100 or at least close to it it won't be reflected on Selphie's experience points or level, so all the gained experience points and levels basically disappear into the ether as far as Seifer goes. The GFs keep the gained levels and experience points though which is good. So, that'll take a minute. lol Definitely worth it though. ^^ For now though I'm just collecting Ruby Dragon Triple Triad cards from Dr. Kadowaki, as well as various other cards so I can refine more items from them to have in my inventory to upgrade the weapons of everyone that joins the party to the strongest available minus the ones that require rarer items that I can't get at this point in the game.

[Daxter]

11 hours ago, Wild Emotion said:

I know. lol The Ifrit battle was really underwhelming. I'll wait until I've got all of the characters before I actually level them up though, but I'll be having all of them reach level 100 when I do have all of them in the party. ^^ That'll definitely be more fun. lol

In Final Fantasy VIII Remastered on Switch I've gotten Ifrit to learn all of the abilities that he can before he reaches level 10 and unlocks Mad Rush and Ammo-RF. Luckily enough there's still a space for both of those to pop up whenever he does unlock those abilities. Now, having gone back to Balamb Garden, Quistis has temporarily left the party since she was only with Squall to accompany him to the Fire Cavern to witness his performance in obtaining the Ifrit Guardian Force due to her being an instructor. She's actually the youngest instructor in Balamb Garden, which is pretty impressive. She's definitely a tough one. Now, after replenishing both Quistis' and Squall's stocked Cure magic back up to 100, which is the maximum amount of magic that any character can have stocked, I'm just trying to collect Ruby Dragon from Dr. Kadowaki so I can refine 100 Flares from Inferno Fangs I can obtain from the Ruby Dragon cards. I'll need 10 of them to be able to refine 1 Inferno Fang though, so it'll take a while to get that many. Quezacotl, Shiva, and Ifrit have all learned every ability that they can learn until Shiva learns Doom at level 10 and Ifrit learns Mad Rush and Ammo-RF at level 10. I'll level up those 3 Guardian Forces when in Dollet during the SeeD Field Exam when Seifer Almasy temporarily joins the party for the only time he ever does in the whole game. I like to K.O. Zell and Squall using Seifer so neither of them will gain experience points nor level up. Seifer will gain experience points and level up though, and so will the 3 Guardian Forces until they each reach level 100 because why not? The cool thing is Even after having Seifer reach a level of 100 or at least close to it it won't be reflected on Selphie's experience points or level, so all the gained experience points and levels basically disappear into the ether as far as Seifer goes. The GFs keep the gained levels and experience points though which is good. So, that'll take a minute. lol Definitely worth it though. ^^ For now though I'm just collecting Ruby Dragon Triple Triad cards from Dr. Kadowaki, as well as various other cards so I can refine more items from them to have in my inventory to upgrade the weapons of everyone that joins the party to the strongest available minus the ones that require rarer items that I can't get at this point in the game.

Sounds like this has definitely turned into a power file run! Manually leveling Seifer to Level 100 is new to me. Is there some fast way you have to do it?

[Emotion Flux]

10 hours ago, Daxter said:

Sounds like this has definitely turned into a power file run! Manually leveling Seifer to Level 100 is new to me. Is there some fast way you have to do it?

The only practical way to do it in Dollet is by using the 3x Speed via L3. Otherwise it'd take forever and a day. lol It's one of the only times though when I allow myself to use one of the new Remastered options. I'll never use the Infinite HP/Limit Break via R3 though. Oh, but apparently Omega Weapon kills the whole party if you use the R3 feature in the encounter with him. lol I thought that was pretty cool. At least people can't just breeze through that fight using those Remastered functions. I'm not sure what a power file run is though? Before they updated FFVIII Remastered though the gained levels that someone got for Seifer actually did transfer to Selphie once she replaced him. XD So, I'm glad they fixed that issue with an update for the game. I was horrified to see that all the time I'd spent leveling up Seifer was basically a waste of time. At least that doesn't happen now though. Thankfully. Though the only encounters available in Dollet are the Galbadian Elites and Galbadian Soldiers. Usually I just end up running back and forth on the bridge where it's possible to actually destroy the X-ATM092. Well, at least if I remember that right. No other place really pops up as to where it can be destroyed. I do run back near the start of the area to save even though it ultimately affects the SeeD Rank that Squall gets after finally becoming a SeeD in a negative way. Otherwise I'd have to spend an hour or 2 without saving at all which just isn't a good plan because sometimes I take breaks to get sleep. ^^;

[Sakura]

I've been playing a game I'm kind of addicted to on my phone this week called The Legend of Neverland. It's just a little gacha style game but it's pretty cute. 

[Emotion Flux]

5 hours ago, Sakura said:

I've been playing a game I'm kind of addicted to on my phone this week called The Legend of Neverland. It's just a little gacha style game but it's pretty cute. 

What's a gacha style game? I don't think I've ever heard of those.

[Daxter]

7 hours ago, Wild Emotion said:

The only practical way to do it in Dollet is by using the 3x Speed via L3. Otherwise it'd take forever and a day. lol It's one of the only times though when I allow myself to use one of the new Remastered options. I'll never use the Infinite HP/Limit Break via R3 though. Oh, but apparently Omega Weapon kills the whole party if you use the R3 feature in the encounter with him. lol I thought that was pretty cool. At least people can't just breeze through that fight using those Remastered functions. I'm not sure what a power file run is though? Before they updated FFVIII Remastered though the gained levels that someone got for Seifer actually did transfer to Selphie once she replaced him. XD So, I'm glad they fixed that issue with an update for the game. I was horrified to see that all the time I'd spent leveling up Seifer was basically a waste of time. At least that doesn't happen now though. Thankfully. Though the only encounters available in Dollet are the Galbadian Elites and Galbadian Soldiers. Usually I just end up running back and forth on the bridge where it's possible to actually destroy the X-ATM092. Well, at least if I remember that right. No other place really pops up as to where it can be destroyed. I do run back near the start of the area to save even though it ultimately affects the SeeD Rank that Squall gets after finally becoming a SeeD in a negative way. Otherwise I'd have to spend an hour or 2 without saving at all which just isn't a good plan because sometimes I take breaks to get sleep. ^^;

Ah, makes sense. A power file run just means you are trying to get your characters as strong as possible as early as possible on a save file, instead of naturally playing the game. The result being that you power through the main story quite easily as RPGs are designed for you to have everything you need just by progressing how the game wants you to do so.

[Sakura]

2 hours ago, Wild Emotion said:

What's a gacha style game? I don't think I've ever heard of those.

Kinda like a loot box game I guess is the best description. Lots of loot boxes to get you to spend lots of real life money to get all the cute stuff and the good stuff lol, so you end up doing like 50 mini transactions trying to get 1 mount and then realize you've spent $100 on the game in ten minutes  but I really like them because they are usually anime-looking and have really cute stuff in them, but they are all about spending money even though you can play the game without spending money you just don't get all the rare stuff. 

[Animedragon]

4 hours ago, Sakura said:

Kinda like a loot box game I guess is the best description. Lots of loot boxes to get you to spend lots of real life money to get all the cute stuff and the good stuff lol, so you end up doing like 50 mini transactions trying to get 1 mount and then realize you've spent $100 on the game in ten minutes  but I really like them because they are usually anime-looking and have really cute stuff in them, but they are all about spending money even though you can play the game without spending money you just don't get all the rare stuff. 

I'm not a games playing person, but do have some concerns about games that feature in-game purchases. Every so often a news story surfaces about a child who has managed to max out their parents credit card on in-game purchases, often because they don't realise they're paying with real money or don't realise how much of a bill they're racking up. This is fine if the parents can afford it, but many can't and $/£100 would make a big hole in the family finances. I don't know about the prices where you are, but £100 is roughly about what I spend on food for three weeks.

[Emotion Flux]

15 hours ago, Daxter said:

Ah, makes sense. A power file run just means you are trying to get your characters as strong as possible as early as possible on a save file, instead of naturally playing the game. The result being that you power through the main story quite easily as RPGs are designed for you to have everything you need just by progressing how the game wants you to do so.

I just like to be prepared, that's all. I haven't played the game in a long time, so I'm just covering the bases that I can at this point in the game.

14 hours ago, Sakura said:

Kinda like a loot box game I guess is the best description. Lots of loot boxes to get you to spend lots of real life money to get all the cute stuff and the good stuff lol, so you end up doing like 50 mini transactions trying to get 1 mount and then realize you've spent $100 on the game in ten minutes  but I really like them because they are usually anime-looking and have really cute stuff in them, but they are all about spending money even though you can play the game without spending money you just don't get all the rare stuff. 

Oh, ok. I was just about to ask what a loot box game is, too. lol I'm glad you explained it that way. I should never be trusted with my own money because I'd spend it on video games and other forms of escapism. lol I doubt I'd have enough for sufficient food even if I could live on my own. rofl I've never been a responsible person though. As long as you're having fun with the gacha game I don't see why you shouldn't spend your money however you want to. Especially if you're having fun. ^^

[Daxter]

I have still been working through Tales of Graces F and it has been a lot of fun! The story is very slow building as the bulk of the game will take place after a time-skip, but that allows for world building and truly understanding the characters in play. I just made it to the time-skip with a lot happening prior to it and while a lot of questions needed answers, the time-skip happened at a good time. The game-play was fun before and opens up a lot more after that. Even though I am starting out at a higher difficulty, it has not created any problems yet as the customization system gives a lot of options. Now that more is going on in the story, I am curious to see what happens now as while there has been a lot of heartfelt moments, the point of the story is not clear yet unless it is more simple than I am thinking.

[Sakura]

18 hours ago, Animedragon said:

I'm not a games playing person, but do have some concerns about games that feature in-game purchases. Every so often a news story surfaces about a child who has managed to max out their parents credit card on in-game purchases, often because they don't realise they're paying with real money or don't realise how much of a bill they're racking up. This is fine if the parents can afford it, but many can't and $/£100 would make a big hole in the family finances. I don't know about the prices where you are, but £100 is roughly about what I spend on food for three weeks.

I really wonder how did they get their parents credit card #'s to begin with unless their parents gave it to them? How would they get their parents credit card saved on their phone to buy in-game stuff with? Especially if you don't have the kind of money to spend on gaming stuff anyways. Like I was kind of a mischievous kid and did a lot of things I reallllllllly probably shouldn't have, but one thing I knew better than to ever do was take my parent's bank or credit cards lol Like I don't know how it works for these stories with kids doing that, but for me I had to put my credit card into my Apple pay thing to be able to make in-game purchases to do that... so their parent's would have had to give them the card I think otherwise how would they have the credit card on their phone to do that to start with?

9 hours ago, Wild Emotion said:

I just like to be prepared, that's all. I haven't played the game in a long time, so I'm just covering the bases that I can at this point in the game.

Oh, ok. I was just about to ask what a loot box game is, too. lol I'm glad you explained it that way. I should never be trusted with my own money because I'd spend it on video games and other forms of escapism. lol I doubt I'd have enough for sufficient food even if I could live on my own. rofl I've never been a responsible person though. As long as you're having fun with the gacha game I don't see why you shouldn't spend your money however you want to. Especially if you're having fun. ^^

Yeah I kind of like these games but I regulate what I spend on them now because it's very easy to spend a lot, but if you can afford to do that I don't see any problem with it. It's my money so if I want to buy something on a game that I like I don't see an issue either ^^ I figure as long as you pay all your bills + have food to eat, whatever you do with your extra money is up to you even if you just want to buy something on a game lol 

[Animedragon]

3 hours ago, Sakura said:

I really wonder how did they get their parents credit card #'s to begin with unless their parents gave it to them? How would they get their parents credit card saved on their phone to buy in-game stuff with?

I had a bit of a think about that and I suspect it's probably mostly down to parents not really understanding how tech stuff works. They enter their card details for a one-off special gift and don't realise that the phone has stored their card's details.

3 hours ago, Sakura said:

I figure as long as you pay all your bills + have food to eat, whatever you do with your extra money is up to you

That's exactly the argument I used when my mother complained about how much I was spending on anime DVDs.

[Sakura]

11 hours ago, Animedragon said:

I had a bit of a think about that and I suspect it's probably mostly down to parents not really understanding how tech stuff works. They enter their card details for a one-off special gift and don't realise that the phone has stored their card's details.

That's exactly the argument I used when my mother complained about how much I was spending on anime DVDs.

I guess that could happen if they selected save the card details or something like that. Some sites have that option I think or maybe saved their PayPal info with their credit card info on it. Whenever I make an in-game purchase on a game though several warnings come up saying you are about to spend x amount of $ and so on though and do you wish to purchase this item for like $5 so I feel like even a 9-10 year old kid understands money concepts and that if it says you are spending $5 they understand enough about how phones work to understand they are spending real money  Maybe I'm just expecting too much from people though  

Lol hey nothing wrong with buying what you want as long as you aren't going bankrupt and paying all your important things  

[Daxter]

I made some more progress in Tales of Graces F, and had my first few defeats. Having a small party seems to be the biggest concern now as I have not perfected manually healing. I saw this as a potential issue though. Once I get another party member as I am down to two right now, I will try and get ahead of the curve by trying to complete some of the Trials of Graces. I have a feeling that will be sometime this week.

[efaardvark]

Found and raided a mansion w/my brother and his wife. 

(There were actually -2- of these chicken rooms in this one.  And they were right next to each other.  What are the chances?  )

[Sakura]

Working on getting to 90 Smithing on OSRS ~

[Emotion Flux]

Ok, soooo... I really don't feel like getting into details or anything, but our Christmas celebration is actually being delayed right now. So, because of circumstances that are actually beyond anyone's control in our house, we'll have to wait to wrap and open each other's presents. Fortunately I was given 1 that mom wrapped so far though which was The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom that's a sequel to Breath of the Wild. HOWEVER!!! Since I was being stubborn and kind of a purist with Breath of the Wild insofar as I wanted to get the DLC before I actually completed the game I haven't actually finished it. In fact, the last time I played it I didn't get very far before I got distracted be other games... which happens to be pretty common with me, even with older games. lol Soooo, since I've really got to finish Breath of the Wild before playing the sequel to it that mom and dad thoughtfully got me because I put the most stars on the name of that game on my Christmas wishlist which means I wanted it the most though I've really been trying to complete every little thing in it that I can. Although I did come across a giant, flying dragon that apparently conjures electricity around it which I am NOT EVEN going to ATTEMPT to fight this early in the game, but I did take the long way around in order to actually get to one of the towers that Link can activate to make that particular area of the map appear. Took a while, but I did get some good loot from some really hideous-looking monsters that I'll be able to do things with until they break, but they're more durable than the stuff I got before this point. I'd have to load the save to get the name of the area I'm in which I'll do next time I start it up, but I can tell I've still got a TON more to do. I'm glad I won't have to worry about getting Tears of the Kingdom when it's sold out everywhere though. lol ^^;

[Daxter]

16 hours ago, Wild Emotion said:

Ok, soooo... I really don't feel like getting into details or anything, but our Christmas celebration is actually being delayed right now. So, because of circumstances that are actually beyond anyone's control in our house, we'll have to wait to wrap and open each other's presents. Fortunately I was given 1 that mom wrapped so far though which was The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom that's a sequel to Breath of the Wild. HOWEVER!!! Since I was being stubborn and kind of a purist with Breath of the Wild insofar as I wanted to get the DLC before I actually completed the game I haven't actually finished it. In fact, the last time I played it I didn't get very far before I got distracted be other games... which happens to be pretty common with me, even with older games. lol Soooo, since I've really got to finish Breath of the Wild before playing the sequel to it that mom and dad thoughtfully got me because I put the most stars on the name of that game on my Christmas wishlist which means I wanted it the most though I've really been trying to complete every little thing in it that I can. Although I did come across a giant, flying dragon that apparently conjures electricity around it which I am NOT EVEN going to ATTEMPT to fight this early in the game, but I did take the long way around in order to actually get to one of the towers that Link can activate to make that particular area of the map appear. Took a while, but I did get some good loot from some really hideous-looking monsters that I'll be able to do things with until they break, but they're more durable than the stuff I got before this point. I'd have to load the save to get the name of the area I'm in which I'll do next time I start it up, but I can tell I've still got a TON more to do. I'm glad I won't have to worry about getting Tears of the Kingdom when it's sold out everywhere though. lol ^^;

Sounds like the best of both worlds on that situation with a lot to do now, while being set up for the sequel later.

[Emotion Flux]

2 hours ago, Daxter said:

Sounds like the best of both worlds on that situation with a lot to do now, while being set up for the sequel later.

Yeah, I've still got a lot of the map to explore in Breath of the Wild. lol It's fun though up until I keep trying to kill the same monster that repeatedly gives me game overs with one strike. That's when I have to deviate and try to find ways to afford the more expensive clothes with higher defense. I'm working on that last part, but it's a slow process. I'm glad it is though, the Zelda games were meant to be enjoyed like that. ^^ At least that's what I think.

[Sakura]

I've been ice skating on the ice skating rink on OSRS with some friends lol It's just temporary as part of the Christmas event but we were having some fun on it earlier.

[Daxter]

I have still been working through Tales of Graces F and it is coming along well. The start of the game is solid world-building and now that the time-skip has happened, the game has opened up a lot. Combat is great, customization is amazing, and the story is coming along with some of the more unique elements developing very slowly. As long as the pacing does not lead to a chaotic ending though, this can work out well. The game is much more linear than it appears however.

Leveling up characters in Samurai Warriors 4 for Nightmare mode has remained a focus too. That is coming along well though upper level stages on that difficulty are still a problem. I was able to max out Kagekatsu’s level though so I think he is ready.

[Sakura]

Almost reached my goal in smithing level which is 90, I should get it today & it's what I'm currently doing on my game ^^

[Imperfection]

I ran one dungeon in ff14 and then goofed around in bomb rush cyberfunk lol