The Energon Pub

[The Happy Locust]

New Super Mario Bros Wii
Cleared the ice world mid-fortress.

House of the Dead Overkill
Having beaten the regular game, replaying in the director's cut mode. Cleared the first 3 levels and even managed to get some A ratings. New personal high-point was reaching the 'goregasm' combo rating in the hospital level.

[Shadowman]

Resident Evil 5:
Going back for the BSAA emblems. I currently have 21 our of 30. I also fully upgraded the Lightning Hawk magnum, the MP5, and the Ithaca shotgun, getting me not only infinite ammo for those weapons, but also the Hydra triple-barrel shotgun. Also, since the infinite ammo applies to every weapon of the same model regardless of upgrades, I can keep my fully upgraded Lightning Hawk, and give my AI partner another, non-upgraded one, removing all of his/her other weapons. (So they won't switch) Everything goes a lot smoother when my ally is equipped only with a game breaking super-weapon that has no need to ever reload or find new ammo.

[The Happy Locust]

Red Faction: Guerrilla
Started the game. Got to experience a fully destructible playground before watching my brother get murdered. Joined red faction and began the liberation of Parker SEctor. only beat one mission so far but spent enough time sandboxing that I've brought EDF influence in the area to zero.

House of the Dead: Overkill
Survived the scream train and fetid waters levels in Director's cut. only 3 more levels to go.
Also, found a new favorite weapon: The Hand Cannon.

[Shadowman]

Resident Evil 5:
Got all 30 BSAA emblems, getting me new costumes for Chris and Sheva. Was all that work worth it? After taking a look at Sheva's new costume...yes, it was worth it. Now I need a cold shower.

EDIT:

Final Fantasy V:
Picked up 9 of the 12 Legendary Weapons. ("They are weapons. They are legendary. There are even twelve of them." I love this translation so much) I also got Holy, Flare, and Meteor. And Bahamut, Odin, Phoenix...I got a lot of nice stuff. I think I'm at the "Collect extra stuff and do side-quests before the final dungeon" section of the game.

[The Happy Locust]

Red Faction: Guerrilla
Cleared the Parker sector of EDF influence. Moving on to Dust sector.

House of the Dead: Overkill
Cleared all but the last level. Made it to the end boss but ran out of continues during the final battle with Mother.

[Shadowman]

Final Fantasy V:
BEATEN! You know, those bosses in the Rift, Neo Exdeath excluded, were all total pushovers. I didn't even use the Gladiator class's Finish ability. Bartz (As a Freelancer) with the Brave Sword (Which was at full power since I never used flee) with the Two-handed and Focus abilities, making him deal somewhere around 9200 damage per focused hit, and Faris (Also Freelancer) with the Excalibur and Holy Lance, using Dual-Wield and Rapid Fire making her do something like 8000 per turn, (Or a whopping 16,000 for enemies weak against Holy) made things go a lot smoother.

Unfortunately, I didn't really get the best ending. Neo Exdeath used Meteor and Comet in quick succession, killing Fairs, and Bartz used his Focus hit before I could revive her. Crap! Maybe I'll go back and try again sometime.

Next up on my Final Fantasy hit list, FF4!

[The Happy Locust]

Final Fantasy V:
BEATEN! You know, those bosses in the Rift, Neo Exdeath excluded, were all total pushovers. I didn't even use the Gladiator class's Finish ability. Bartz (As a Freelancer) with the Brave Sword (Which was at full power since I never used flee) with the Two-handed and Focus abilities, making him deal somewhere around 9200 damage per focused hit, and Faris (Also Freelancer) with the Excalibur and Holy Lance, using Dual-Wield and Rapid Fire making her do something like 8000 per turn, (Or a whopping 16,000 for enemies weak against Holy) made things go a lot smoother.

Unfortunately, I didn't really get the best ending. Neo Exdeath used Meteor and Comet in quick succession, killing Fairs, and Bartz used his Focus hit before I could revive her. Crap! Maybe I'll go back and try again sometime.

Next up on my Final Fantasy hit list, FF4!

You should use my all-purpose strategy of 1 White mage, 1 summoner, and 4 characters with the Mimic ability. Bahamut! Bahamut!Bahamut! Bahamut!Bahamut! Bahamut!Bahamut! Bahamut! Cure 3! Cure 3! cure 3! cure 3! Bahamut! Bahamut!... repeat.

[Shadowman]

You should use my all-purpose strategy of 1 White mage, 1 summoner, and 4 characters with the Mimic ability. Bahamut! Bahamut!Bahamut! Bahamut!Bahamut! Bahamut!Bahamut! Bahamut! Cure 3! Cure 3! cure 3! cure 3! Bahamut! Bahamut!... repeat.

Yeah, the Mime class is an unholy force of destruction not bound to the laws of Man or God. I was going to have Faris use it's three ability slots to add Spellblade, making her even more powerful, but it would mean A) She couldn't use Excalibur and Holy Lance, and B) It would be a lot of work, and since I had already wiped out every living thing in the Dimensional Rift (Half of those bosses didn't even cause damage) it didn't seem worth it.

Another odd thing I noticed is that I didn't get the cutscene where Gilgamesh sacrifices himself, I was kind of looking forward to seeing it. He pulled off the "Idiot Joke Villain" character very well. He may have actually become my favorite FF villain.

Final Fantasy IV:
Went to the moon, which apparently has a breathable atmosphere, and also Bahamut. So I now have every Summon for Rydia. I also nabbed Excalibur for Cecil, and so on. All that's left is to set up my final party. Seems kind of pointless, I've been using Kain, Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, and Edge so long, unless the others are auto-leveled, they'll be way underpowered.

[DecepticonKing86]

Just beat UFC Undisputed 2009 career mode in about 3 days. Kinda boring, but it's the first install. It can totally be beefed up for next year. Basically no interaction other than train, fight, train, fight. No fun in doing other things such as spending money to buy things to unlock.

[Shadowman]

Final Fantasy IV:
Got the special weapons for Yang, Cid, Palom and Porom. I'm probably going to skip Edwards since I never liked using him, also, I don't want to have to make ANOTHER trip there.

[The Happy Locust]

Super Mario Bros. Wii
Got back into the game, moved from the fortress in world 3 to the fortress in world 4, giving Lemmy and Wendy the boot along the way. Lemmy's always been my favorite koopaling. surprised?

Red Faction: Guerilla
Mostly just screwing around in the dust sector, having fun going after convoys and side-missions while doing nothing for the plot. This, by the way, is the definition of a good sandbox game.
Decided to try 2 more missions. First was following a marauder to a hidden outpost, where I found an odd artifact. Turns out the EDF was looking for it too so I had to fight my out. Luckily the Marauders decided they didn't like intruders and inadvertently helped me escape. 2nd mission was defending a Miners' Rally from a less-than-sympathetic EDF. In the process, killed the general who ordered the troops to fire on civilians.

[Shadowman]

Team Fortress 2:
WAR! Is...well, over. And the Demomen lost, crap. I was on their side.

Did some farming (Which you still have to work for, almost, if not EVERY one of those achievements is nearly impossible to get without having the enemy team help you), and got the Demoman's Eyelander (Big-ass sword) and Chargin' Targe. (A shield to go with the sword, meant for dashing and smacking/stabbing/slashing/etc. with melee weapons, particularly the Eyelander)

I also FOUND (Since I only got the one milestone for Soldier) the Direct Hit (A precision Rocket launcher, almost no splash, but faster and stronger) the Equalizer (A pick-axe that does more damage the lower your health is) as well as the Seventh Item from the Soldier's winning the war, the Gunboats, a pair of iron boots meant to lower damage from rocket-jumping.

It seems the random drop system really DOES work.

EDIT: Did some more farming, and got the last of the Milestones.

[The Happy Locust]

Red Faction: Guerilla
Cleared the Dust sector but the EDF pulled a scorched earth tactic and leveled it as they left. sigh...
In the badlands now wreaking havoc with my new nano rifle. A side-mission took me to Oasis and I ended up doing some damage there as well.

[Evil_the_Nub]

World of Warcraft: Finished the What a Long Strange Trip it's Been achievement. Got a Violet Proto-Drake for my trouble.

[The Happy Locust]

New Super Mario Bros Wii
Cleared world 4 by defeating Wendy O. Koopa at the castle and then Bowser Jr at his airship.

Red Faction: Guerilla
Sabotaged the airfleet in the badlands, clearing the airspace for our next missions in the Free Fire Zone and liberating the Balands. But first, I still need to LIberate Oasis.

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Decided to launch the game and go for some challenge scores only to find that my savegames are gone. Tried reloading the files I saved before I upgraded my computer but no go. I'm back at the beginning. I'm just going to blame this on Games for windows Live and move forward.

[Shadowman]

Final Fantasy VIII:
You know what's hard? Trying to reconcile my almost primal need to grind in a Final Fantasy game with the knowledge that doing so will also help make my enemies stronger. On the other hand, Bosses have a level cap, so who knows.

Also, I noticed I've used very little magic. I'm not sure how that happened. I mean, I've been drawing as much magic as I can. I've been junctioning it like crazy as well. So I guess I just don't WANT to use magic because NOT using it keeps my stats high.

Just made it to Galbadia Garden. This is my third playthrough, by the way. Let's see if I actually make it this time.

[The Happy Locust]

New Super Mario Brox. Wii
Cleared world 5, defeating Iggy Koopa twice. That 2nd round with the Chain Chomp was pretty cool.

Red Faction: Guerilla
Liberated Oasis. 4 of 6 sectors now belong to the Red Faction.

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Started the game. Just cleared the first Scarecrow section.

Fallout 3
Started exploring Point lookout. Rather than take on the main quest, played "The Velvet Curtain" sidequest all the way through, in the process sneaking into a derelict internment camp, blowing up a 200-year old scuttled submarine, and escaping a double-cross meant for a guy who'd probably been dead for 2 centuries.

[Shadowman]

Final Fantasy VIII:
Finished up disc one. The assassination plot was foiled, because no one realized Edea could stop a bullet. Oh well.

[The Happy Locust]

Red Faction: Guerrilla
Survived the Free Fire zone and destroyed the standing artillery. In doing so, liberated the zone. 5 of 6 sectors now belong to the Red faction. Now to go wreak havoc in Eos. Upgrade-wise, earned the jetpack which has made travel much more fun. Destroyed a major bridge, a monument, and took a walker on a diversionary ride full of explosions in a heavy-metal mission.

[Shadowman]

Mirror's Edge:
Beat up a lot of guys, and found out that what Faith had assumed was an ally was, in fact, not an ally at all. Now to meet with someone who may or may not make the next hour a living hell...

Also, the best melee combo ever: After performing a sliding kick (Which lands right on the target's crotch), Faith will follow up with a punch...also to the crotch area. While I'm pretty sure none of these ass-kickings are lethal (Except for the few where they also fell off a building), there are going to be a lot of childless men singing soprano.

[The Happy Locust]

Red Faction: Guerrilla
Cleared the remaining missions in Eos and prepared to liberate it. All red faction forces rallied in preparation, only to be blindsided by an EDF assault and decimated. Survived the attack and needed a new plan. Samanya suggested we go ask the Marauders for help. Um.. okay?
Turns out Sam is related to the Marauders and we bargained a deal. To destroy the approaching dreadnaught, we need to assemble an accelerator cannon. First step was to collect a suitable missile. The marauders took care of acquiring it while I provided aerial support via a hacked orbital surveillance satellite to flag targets for the rebuild artillery. Fun.
UPDATE:
GAME OVER!
With the missile ready, it was time to invade EDF central command. Leading an assault force, the red faction destroyed the central command and effectively destroyed the EDF's hold on Mars. After that, it was time to prepare for the arrival of the Earth Dreadnought labeled the Hydra. First I had to run satellite artillery cover to keep the EDF away from the missile preparation site, during which time the EDF managed to take over the launch site. Hurried to the launch site while driving a mounted artillery (lots of stuff go boom!) to the launch site, opened the launch doors and killed the EDF general. In doing so, the missile was launched and it successfully deconstructed the Hydra. The EDF is defeated, Earth's most powerful weapon is scrap, and Mars is free.

The ending was kinda underwhelming but probably because this is a series and the designers wanted to leave room for another sequel. Overall, I loved this game. Sandbox with 100% destructible infrastructure. The only times I wasn't having fun was when I ran out of things to destroy.

[The Happy Locust]

3 business days, acceptable time for another post.


Fallout 3
Completed Point lookout's quests, losing and regaining a part of my brain, returning Nadine to her mother, collecting lots of PUnga fruit, killing both a disembodied brain and a ghoul with a vendetta. Fun.
After leaving point lookout, returned to the Broken Steel storyline, which involved finding my way through the presidential metro from the white house to the capital, taking a 2nd tunnel to an Enclave controlled Air base. Infiltrated the base, fought lots of enclave, got inside their mobile crawler base, took control of the orbital launch control and brought an orbital assault down on the base. The brotherhood saved me before everything blew up and we got to watch things go boom. Fun.

Dragon Age: Origin
Started the game. Chose the male City Elf origin. on my wedding day, a rich human decides to steal my bride, my cousin, and my friend's bride. We snuck into the castle and killed the humans, taking back our bride. Facing an execution for what I did, I was rescued by a Grey Warden looking for a recruit. After saying my goodbyes, was taken to a Grey Warden encampment for a recruitment ceremony.

[Shadowman]

3 business days, acceptable time for another post.

Ah, well Friday was a major holiday, and then there was Saturday and Sunday. So it's more like ONE business day. We'll bill you.

Final Fantasy VIII:
Killed Master NORG...he deserved it. He was about to sell out pretty much everyone and then let Edea take over. Great strategy. After reuniting with the rest of the party in Fisherman's Horizon, I headed to Cactaur Island to do some AP grinding. Got a metric assload of GF abilities, particularly Quetzalcoatl's (And I'm surprised that name was in FireFox's suggested correction list) Card Mod, netting me a lot of items. I used these to upgrade everyone's weapon except Selphie's. Kind of sucks, since I actually like using her.

EDIT:

Dissidia: Final Fantasy:
Completed Destiny Odyssey I and Destiny Odyssey VIII. That is, Warrior of Light and Squall. I also unlocked Kefka as a playable character. (He makes a distinct "BOING" noise when he jumps. He is easily the most hilarious omnicidal maniac ever)

[The Happy Locust]

3 business days, acceptable time for another post.

Ah, well Friday was a major holiday, and then there was Saturday and Sunday. So it's more like ONE business day. We'll bill you.

Drat...

Batman: Arkham asylum
Scarecrow, Croc, and Ivy are all taken care of. Nothing left but the joker. But first, riddler time. 230/240 of the riddles solved so far.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Cleared World 6, the rock world by defeating Morton Koopa twice and then Bowser Jr again. Bowser Jr's battle was an epic aerial competition akin to bumper cars. Fun.

[Shadowman]

Dissidia: Final Fantasy:
Cleared Destiny Odyssey V and VII (Bartz and Cloud) and unlocked Exdeath, though pretty much to work as a training dummy. Exdeath, being a pure evil, sentient tree, moves with all the speed...of a tree. Really, I consider any match against Exdeath or the manikin versions of him a free win. Particularly I want to get Kefka's levels up, (Yes, it's a fighter, but it's also an RPG so RPG leveling/EXP rules still apply) because despite being a delightfully zany psychopath, his abilities as they are now, suck. Terra, however, is surprisingly easy to use, which is why I'm working on Destiny Odyssey VI.

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes:
I'll admit, this is the only Metroid Prime game I never beat. Well...okay, I never even played Hunters or Pinball...you know what I mean! The main games. The Wii controls are just fantastic, though I had to switch the B and A buttons. (Pulling a trigger to jump does not feel right) Got all three keys for the Dark Agon temple, so now I have to kill me a boss!

EDIT:

Dissidia: Final Fantasy:
Cleared Destiny Odyssey IV, VI, and X. (Cecil, Terra and Tidus) I also unlocked Garland, Sephiroth, Ultimecia, and Jecht. Garland and Sephiroth control absolutely great, I haven't had a chance to use Ultimecia or Jecht, I'll probably get some practice in as them before tackling the next Destiny odyssey.

Metroid Prime 2: Echos:
Got the Super Missiles and the Morph Ball Boost.