The Energon Pub

[Shadowman]

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones:
BEATEN! Killed the Vizier, did away with the Dark Prince, saved Farah. Kaileena decides to leave because our world just can't handle the Sands of Time. She takes the Dagger of Time with her. The Prince tells Farah the whole story, starting with a remake of the first cutscene from Sands of Time. And everyone lives happily ever after.

OR DO THEY?!

...yes, yes they do.

[1337W422102]

Super Mario RPG: The Legend of the Seven Stars [SNES]:
Ok, WTF??

The last time I played, I had 2 saved data files. I had 6 of the 7 Stars, and I was about Level 40. Now, I loaded up the cartridge.

Only 1 data file remains, and now I'm at Level 15. I lost more than half of the progress I had made in the game over the course of about a year. I have no idea why this happened or what could have caused this, but I'm pissed as hell.

Seriously, WTF? If the saved data was going to be corrupted, wouldn't I have lost the save file entirely?

[Shadowman]

The same thing happened to me. I had a save right before the final boss. I load it up after a break...gone. Nothing there. I had to start from scratch, all the way at the beginning. A lot of swear words were uttered that day.

[The Happy Locust]

Madworld
Went to the robot factory and fought a giant robot. No surprise there. After that, it was time off to the casino strip. Imagine Sonic the hedgehog's casino zone but with lots of spikes and blades that I can send enemies into after making them bounce of the bumpers. No boss to the level. Entered the tower level and fought 3 ultra-cheap sets of enemies before reaching the #1 contestant. Got my ass handed to me due to beating given by 3 ultra-cheap sets of enemies fought before reaching the #1 contestant.

[1337W422102]

The same thing happened to me. I had a save right before the final boss. I load it up after a break...gone. Nothing there. I had to start from scratch, all the way at the beginning. A lot of swear words were uttered that day.

...
A moment of silence for our lost games. One day, I'll buy you a beer and we'll curse the damn batterry-backup memory that cursed us. Or rather, that made us curse. A lot.

Super Mario RPG [SNES]:
Since my saved data screwed me, I had to start back from Booster's Tower with 3 of the Stars. Found the 4th Star and beat the squid on the pirate ship.

Found a great place to powerlevel on the pirate ship. There's a Dry Bones and a Jawa/Black Mage/RE4 Merchant guy who sells, among other things, Maple Syrup (replenishes magic). The Dry Bones fight spawns 5 ghosts, all of which get completely fragged by a Geno Blast. Blast 'em, wait for 'em to respawn, Blast 'em, buy some Syrup, repeat.

[The Happy Locust]

MadWorld
GAME.OVER!
Defeated the final boss (who had surprisingly impressive moves despite his anticlimactically non-flashy fighting style. won the deathwatch games. Completed my secret mission by killing the two head guys who were running the games and then drove off into the night while the commentators mocked the credit sequence.

Assassin's Creed
GAME.OVER!
Returned to my home base and found the citizens of Masyaf mindless and chanting their faith to my teacher. After being rescued from the zealot hordes by some friends, I reached Al Mualim, who had been misleading me all along so that he would be the only one with control of the Templar treasure. After defeating his illusions and seeing through his deceptions, I battled him and killed him. Now to destroy this thing... to destroy... must destroy... but... so pretty... maybe I'll keep it for myself.
In the present, and unseen monitor told the Doctor to kill me now that they had my memories recorded. My life was saved by Lucy's suggestion that my memories may still prove useful. As they left, I suddenly had eagle vision in the present and saw cryptic writings all over the lab and my wrong. As I looked into them, I figured out... ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Game ends with "but what does it mean?" and then ends there. What a load of... I know these game producers want a sequel but did I really need a cliffhanger ending?

[Psycho Warrior]

Assassin's Creed
GAME.OVER!
Returned to my home base and found the citizens of Masyaf mindless and chanting their faith to my teacher. After being rescued from the zealot hordes by some friends, I reached Al Mualim, who had been misleading me all along so that he would be the only one with control of the Templar treasure. After defeating his illusions and seeing through his deceptions, I battled him and killed him. Now to destroy this thing... to destroy... must destroy... but... so pretty... maybe I'll keep it for myself.
In the present, and unseen monitor told the Doctor to kill me now that they had my memories recorded. My life was saved by Lucy's suggestion that my memories may still prove useful. As they left, I suddenly had eagle vision in the present and saw cryptic writings all over the lab and my wrong. As I looked into them, I figured out... ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Game ends with "but what does it mean?" and then ends there. What a load of... I know these game producers want a sequel but did I really need a cliffhanger ending?

Well, the sequel is coming out at the end of the year.

[Shadowman]

As they left, I suddenly had eagle vision in the present and saw cryptic writings all over the lab and my wrong. As I looked into them, I figured out... ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Game ends with "but what does it mean?" and then ends there.

Look at some of them. Pretty much every thing on that wall and the floor outside points at the end of the world. Many of them point at December 21, 2012, which, in the game, is only a few months away, and is the date Abstergo/the Templar's plan on launching a Satellite that will "end the war."

I assume at least some of that will be explained in Assassin's Creed 2. Desmond will be back, Altair won't, but since Desmond is the decedent of Altair, at least we don't have to suffer the "Did he die or not?" dilemma.

[1337W422102]

The Godfather [PC]:
Became the Don, got a 99.0% completion rating. Yeah, I'm done with the game.

Portal [PC]:
Beat the game, got some cake. Playing with commentary on.

Far Cry [PC]:
Not seeing what the hype was about. The landscape is beautiful and it's amazing how good it looks and sounds, but besides for that, the story if awful (why should I care about this secret agent reporter chick besides for her body?), writing is atrocious, and the acting is pitiful. The gameplay doesn't seem very special either (it's still good, mind you). In these respects, Far Cry really reminds me of Resident Evil 4.

I'm at the part where I find the first Hang Glider.

[The Happy Locust]

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
started the game, watching as a hero from the first game is now a zealot and merciless killer who destroyed my home and family. In the present, took control of Emil, a highly timid and weak-willed boy who's low self-esteem isn't helped by being ostracized by the entire town as a monster and Vanguard sympathizer. The appearance of a man named Richter starts a series of events for Emil as he starts to gain some confidence and learns to fight. Turns out Richter's looking for a girl with a jewel in her forehead
Taking a quick trip outside of town, met Marta, a very cheerful girl who apparently knew me at PalmaCosta but I don't remember her. Went back to town and told Richter that I had seen the girl and took him to where I found her. In a nearby cave, he taught me more about fighting and things looked good... until Richter found Marta and tried to kill her.
Taking Marta's side, I tried to stop Richter but got cast aside. At that point, a creature named Tenebrae showed himself and told me to make a pact with Ratatosk. Didn't have a clue what he meant but I did anyway, gaining a new weapon, some nice dark clothes, and fighting skills. Richter had a creature named Aqua and I had to fight her off.
Tenebrae taught me how to create pacts with local creatures. To that end, I now have an imp and a wolf fighting with me. Worked my way back to Richter and found him injured, apparently by Lloyd from the first game. After getting him some help, ran After LLoyd. Found Lloyd and experience the shorted battle in video game history. Got my ass handed to me in a single sword shot.
Surprisingly, I was left alive. Turns out the treasure of the cave was taken though, it was the core of a Centurion named Lumen (Tenebrae and Aqua were centurions of Darkness and water, respectively).
Returned home to find the townsfolk still hated me. When both the Sylvaranti Vanguard and the Church of Martel's troops (opposing sides in a war) both tried to kill Marta, I managed to fight both of them and save the town. Still, best I leave as everyone blames me for the invasion forces. Sigh...
My crew is taking off to the city of Asgard to try and track down Lloyd. Ending chapter 1.

[Shadowman]

Team Fortress 2:
I'd like to say I went on an Achievement farm last night and nabbed the new Spy and Sniper weapons, and that they are awesome. I'd like to say that. But Valve has new ideas for unlocking weapons that doesn't involve Achievements, and by God, they haven't fully explained it yet. As far as anyone knows, it's all random.

That said, I got the Razorback by virtue of logging on.

[1337W422102]

I heard the new Unlocks are based on playtime. Which is good, because most of the Achievements are effing impossible. Maybe you got the Razorback because you met the time requirements. At any rate, well done, kick some ass, and BONK!

Far Cry [PC]:
Generic game is generic.
Got past the 'evil Jurassic Park' bit with the mutant things. Planted the detonation pack on the compound's wall.

Super Mario RPG [SNES]:
Found a great place to powerlevel.

In the Sunken Ship near Seaside Town, there's a room with a ?-box, a Merchant, and a Dry Bones. Have Geno in your party, make sure he's at least Level 14 so he knows the Geno Blast. Have him in Party Slot 3 so that he will have the first move. You'll get 27 Exp.

Touch the Dry Bones. Use the Geno Blast, killing all 5 monsters in 1 move. Repeat until out of Flower Points. Then leave the room, run down the corridor to the room with the save pad. Put the barrel on one green Switch and jump on the other, scoring you a Full Restore Mushroom. Save, go back to the Dry Bones, repeat, ???, PROFIT!

[Shadowman]

I heard the new Unlocks are based on playtime. Which is good, because most of the Achievements are effing impossible. Maybe you got the Razorback because you met the time requirements. At any rate, well done, kick some ass, and BONK!

If it's based on playtime, I should have more items, seeing as how I have almost 35 hours of total playtime.

That said, the new unlocks aren't the only ones you randomly obtain; you can also get the old ones this way. Even if you already have them. That's what the delete button was for, I really thought that was weird.

They're supposed to explain it more sometime today, so at least we can get some idea of how I'm supposed to get that sweet, sweet, Huntsman. I saw a Sniper pinned to a wall in Gravel Pit today, and that same match I was killed in one hit by a Huntsman...now I want it more.

[The Happy Locust]

Tales of Symphonia: DotNW
Still in Asgard. The wind gusts turned out to be too much trouble and I needed to hide in the caves. While searching for shelter, saw the Vanguard and their squad leader, Alice, a very violent little girl. After smacking her soldiers around, they went in search of 'the chosen of regeneration'. Curious, I searched for the chosen as well and found none other than Collette from the first game. The meeting wasn't a pleasant one but I still didn't give away her position. After a little boy got swept away by the wind, my crew went to rescue him only to get surrounded by Alice's troops. Collette dropped by to save the boy and us and help us fight off the Vanguard troops. AFter Alice fled, made our peace with Collette and then travelled to the Stone Dias to seek the source of the wind problem. Found a Garuda at the Dais but couldn't hurt it. On Collette's suggestion, we're travelling to a different town to go find a dragon tamer so we can come back and take on the Garuda again.

[Psycho Warrior]

Fallout 3 xbox 360
I beat anchorage ((I freaking love the stealth suit!)) but now that I have broken steel I have a serious bug. I get to the purifier, beat the corneal, but the conversation needed to trigger the 'go into the purifier' doesn't come up. Lyons just wants to secure the empty room. I was never expecting such a huge bug. Now I can't access broken steel.

[The Happy Locust]

Tried to post but considering I lost a page and a half of posting. I'm just going through the cliffnotes

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the new world
Went to Hilm. Monster tamer was gone but there were tons of monsters. Defeated monsters and befriended a baby dragon.
went back to asgard. used dragon against Garuda. Defeated it but a 2nd showed up. Time for a new plan.
Marta learned a ritual dance for the temple. we returned to the dais, defeated Garuda #2 and Marta's dance opened up some underground ruins. In the ruins, defeated the fake Sylph (wind demon) and got Ventus's core. Power for me, no more wind problems for Asgard.
Went to Palmacosta. Ran into Alice and Richter but a cameo by Zelos saved us. Boats couldn't leave due to storm. So we went to nearby ruins to find cause of Storm. Alice attacked us again but we beat her up. Zelos showed up to help but our badmouthing of Lloyd pissed him off and he left us there.
At the bottom of the ruins, found the monster causing the storms. Defeated it but then it swallowed us whole. We woke up on a beach not only having crossed the ocean but landed on the far side of the other continent

[Shadowman]

Team Fortress 2:
Got the razorback, a new Sniper weapon that can block a single backstab from a Spy, and only a backstab from a Spy. Some people are convinced it's useful; however, since I usually play Pyro, it doesn't stop me.

Also got the Cloak and Dagger watch for the Spy. While it drains a bit faster than the old cloak, Cloak and Dagger will actually recharge while standing still, and drain only when moving, meaning you can hide in a corner for a decent shot indefinitely.

[1337W422102]

Team Fortress 2:
Got the razorback, a new Sniper weapon that can block a single backstab from a Spy, and only a backstab from a Spy. Some people are convinced it's useful;

At least you won't end up like the BLU Sniper from "Meet the Spy," Gentlemen.

Far Cry [PC]:
Ok, so we're only supposed to care about Val because of her body, right?

In the Steam Generator level, trying to make my way to the first junction.

[The Happy Locust]

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
Having reached Iselia, LLoyd's hometown, sought LLoyd's whereabouts. To Emil's disgust, the townsfolk revered Lloyd as a hero. To find more about LLoyd, heading to the Martel temple and met Lloyd's adoped father. He had no info. As we left, a surprise appearance by Raine informed me that a child of the town had gone missing. Having met the child earlier, I knew exactly where he had gone.
Following the child to the remains of the Desian Human ranch, went underground and found the child, along with quite a few monsters. Raine showed up and helped us destroy the monster. After severely punishing the child, we headed back to Iselia to plan our next move.

[Shadowman]

Team Fortress 2:
Got "Jarate" for Sniper which is a...*ahem* jar of unpleasantness, which can hurt the enemies "will to live," causing them to take 35% more damage, or, Mini-Crit. It also shorts out Spy cloaking, and extinguishes flames on any burning ally, although the burning afterwords is probably unrelated to the fire.

Also nabbed one of the fancy new hats, which have no effect on gameplay and are only for fun. In particular, I got the Medic's pointy German WWI helmet. Unfortunately, I can't kill anyone with a headbutt.

[The Happy Locust]

Team Fortress 2:
Got "Jarate" for Sniper which is a...*ahem* jar of unpleasantness, which can hurt the enemies "will to live," causing them to take 35% more damage, or, Mini-Crit. It also shorts out Spy cloaking, and extinguishes flames on any burning ally, although the burning afterwords is probably unrelated to the fire.

Also nabbed one of the fancy new hats, which have no effect on gameplay and are only for fun. In particular, I got the Medic's pointy German WWI helmet. Unfortunately, I can't kill anyone with a headbutt.

Still haven't even tried playing TF2 even though I've had it for months. Not sure why.

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New world
After returning to Iselia, learned that Lloyd had been spotted heading for the Triet ruins. Went there and found Genis (first game character) waiting for us. He had tried to get in but had been blocked by a sleeping monster. We couldn't get past it either so time for a plan B. Genis opted to join us rather than wait by the monster.
Went to the desert town of Triet, which is now covered in snow. Very strange... Went to the lake and did some quick ice fishing to haul up a new monster as bait. Made a pact with the monster and returned to the ruins.
In the ruins, used the fished monster as bait but pulled it away at the last moment, which pissed off the formerly sleeping monster. RUN!
After escaping the monster, went through a puzzle sequence and found the Core of Ignus, the Centurion of Fire. After unlocking the core, Lloyd showed up and threatened us to give him the core, apparently not fazed by the fact that his 2 friends Genis and Raine were there. We refused and expected a battle when Lloyd suddenly took off. Turns out the sleeping monster had caught up with us and Lloyd decided to escape rather than fight it. we took down the monster (using more life-bottles than should be allowed in a single fight) and claimed Ignus as our own. Outside, the snowing in the desert stopped but the sound of LLoyd's rheiard told us he had already fled.
Raine realized that the Centurions cores were located in the same places as the Summon spirits from the first game. Considering LLoyd hadn't caught all the cores yet, it was a fair bet he hadn't made the same realization. Our first act is to to capture the nearest core, which theoretically should be where the 1st game crew found the summon spirit Celsius. TO IZOOLD!

[Shadowman]

Team Fortress 2:
Got "Jarate" for Sniper which is a...*ahem* jar of unpleasantness, which can hurt the enemies "will to live," causing them to take 35% more damage, or, Mini-Crit. It also shorts out Spy cloaking, and extinguishes flames on any burning ally, although the burning afterwords is probably unrelated to the fire.

Also nabbed one of the fancy new hats, which have no effect on gameplay and are only for fun. In particular, I got the Medic's pointy German WWI helmet. Unfortunately, I can't kill anyone with a headbutt.

Still haven't even tried playing TF2 even though I've had it for months. Not sure why.

They just implemented a new item drop system, where you obtain items at a regular, if not somewhat random, intervals. It'd probably make it easier to catch up. On the other hand, I HAVE been hoarding any duplicate items for when the trade system is implemented...

[The Happy Locust]

Team Fortress 2:
Got "Jarate" for Sniper which is a...*ahem* jar of unpleasantness, which can hurt the enemies "will to live," causing them to take 35% more damage, or, Mini-Crit. It also shorts out Spy cloaking, and extinguishes flames on any burning ally, although the burning afterwords is probably unrelated to the fire.

Also nabbed one of the fancy new hats, which have no effect on gameplay and are only for fun. In particular, I got the Medic's pointy German WWI helmet. Unfortunately, I can't kill anyone with a headbutt.

Still haven't even tried playing TF2 even though I've had it for months. Not sure why.

They just implemented a new item drop system, where you obtain items at a regular, if not somewhat random, intervals. It'd probably make it easier to catch up. On the other hand, I HAVE been hoarding any duplicate items for when the trade system is implemented...

The thought of a multi-player fragfest game where you can actually collect items seems odd to me. I'm used to the 'equal-start' and 'first-to-the-mini-nuke' kind of games.

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New world
In Izoold, found that the town was having an arsonist problem. Went to interview the arsonist and found it was actually Regal (1st game character). By definition of not being an NPC, we believed in his innocence. But to prove it, needed to talk to the guy who was with him when the fire started. Too bad he's suffering from Nostradie poison. Time to find some Rosemary.
Went to some nearby caverns to search for the rosemary. after a simple yet extended series of puzzles, managed to find some Rosemary but it was too withered to be of any use. Turns out a monster had been sucking it dry. defeated the monster, restored the plant, used it to cure the poisoned guy, and he vouched for Regal's innocence. Time to leave for Flanoir.
Oh wait, can't leave until the nostradie (light-frog) problem is taken care of. But also can't stop searching for LLoyd. Time to split up. Raine and Genis went ahead to Flanoir while Regal remains to help us with the light-frog problem.

[Shadowman]

The thought of a multi-player fragfest game where you can actually collect items seems odd to me. I'm used to the 'equal-start' and 'first-to-the-mini-nuke' kind of games.

That's only half-right. Technically it IS equal start, however, six of the nine classes have been given optional weapons, which are neither superior or inferior. They're typically referred to as side-grades, since they have some awesome new power, but give up something in return.

To be fair, people are bitching left and right about it. Some people think it TF2 should still have achievement-based unlocking, some people think all new items should be given immediately upon release, some people think the new drop system is fine, and some people think it's completely changed the game despite it's changed one aspect of the game that wasn't even there upon launch. Steam's TF2 forums make 4chan look like a damn Mensa meeting.

[1337W422102]

Steam's TF2 forums make 4chan look like a damn Mensa meeting.

NO U!