The Energon Pub

[Shadowman]

Mass Effect:
Currently on Noveria, about to head to Peak 15 to shoot Benezia in the face many many times. I also got the "Bring Down the Sky" DLC, where an asteroid base is beign snet on a collision course with an inhabited planet, where it will kill all life on the Planet, and render it inhospitable...Wait a minute...

EDIT: Damn they went all out on that one. Most side-quests just reuse a bunch of interiors. That one had not only a few original interiors, but also it's own cutscenes.

The existence of a morally conflicted villain named Charn didn't stop the Gundam comparisons, though...he was wearing a damned red suit!

Team Fortress 2:
Milestones have returned to supplement the Drop system.

Got the Huntsman, a sweet-ass long bow for the Sniper. Hard to aim, no scope, and shortened range, but it can stick enemies to walls, which is so very, very sweet.

Hijacked an empty server with Tweezy to do some achievement spamming, netting me the Ambassador pistol for the Spy, which can do critical hit headshots, and also had a picture of the enemy's mother etched on it. (The Scout's, if Meet the Spy is any indication)

EDIT: Hijacked yet another empty server to finish the job, getting the Dead Ringer, a different cloaking device; it cloaks when you take non-fatal damage, but also drops a ragdoll to fake your death, however, the Cloak and Dagger is still more useful.

[The Happy Locust]

Tales of Symphonia: DAwn of the New World
4 hours straight of playing but made some serious progress... well, not actually. Let me explain.
Before leaving Izoold, needed to take care of the light-frog problem. To do that, needed to go fishing for Jellyfish to make seafood gels. After fishing, made the gels and attracted the frog, which I then had to fight. Problem solved. Time for a boat trip to Flanoir.
In Flanoir, found that LLoyed had devastated the city. did my best to help before heading towards Celcius' temple, where the Core of Centurion Glacies was. Got there and met Raine and Genis who informed us that a local merchant had found and taken the core before we arrived. Back to Flanoir. Got to flanoir and found that the merchant had gone back to the temple to put the core back due to lack of sales prospects. Back to the temple. In the temple, reached the core's location but it wasn't there. Turns out it was a trap by the Vanguard. They kidnapped Marta and we watched helplessly as Richter killed Marta and extracted Ratatosk's core. "Oh my god, they killed Marta! You bastards!"
Wait, it wasn't Marta. Sheena was there for no reason and had set up a dummy. Marta was safe. We decided to escape before Richter figured out the ruse. Unfortunately, Sheena's habit of falling into pitfalls persisted and we needed to go deeper into the temple to find her. At the bottom, found that she had landed on Alice, knocking her out. Lucky us. Alice awoke, very justifiably angry and ordered her men to kill us. Nuts to that. Sheena summoned Celcius to generate an ice wall and we left in a hurry, experiencing a very humorous set of "quiet time" speeches along the way.
Escaped and returned to Flanoir. Found that the shopkeeper was a fake set up by the Vanguard to trap us. Sheena's troops rescued the real shopkeeper. Unfortunately, the shopkeeper's son had taken Glacies' core to Meltokio in hopes of selling it. sigh... off to Meltokio.
In Meltokio, found that a noble had bought the core thinking it was a jewel. before we could track it down, Alice caught up to us and attacked us. We defeated her monsters but she had set up a self-destruct in her golem. Tenebrae saved Emil from the creature and lifted it out of the city so that the explosion wouldn't hurt anyone. Unfortunately, he had to sacrifice himself to do it.
Emil's other personality took over and informed us that, as a centurion, Tenebrae could not die but had instead reverted to a core himself. Looks like we had another core to locate, too bad it was one we hoped not to have to find. To the temple of Darkness!
In the temple, ran into Richter again and fought him. He kicked our asses. However, Emil went overboard and started using Dark Artes so powerful it collapsed the temple. Richter was rescued by his own Centurion and we retrieved Tenebrae's core. Thankfully, we were able to awaken him. Back at the temple entrance, Regal met back up with us and told us he'd found out who bought the core. It was Seles Wilder, sister of Zelos. Looks like we've got a friend in high places. To Meltokio.
In Meltokio, attempted to see Seles but was informed that Lloyd had kidnapped her. Ran into Zelos, who was convinced that the man he was taking his sister wasn't LLoyed. the Overpowering cologne on the kidnapper pretty much confirmed that it was actually Decas, a Vanguard Shapeshifter. Still, we needed to track down LLoyd, Zelos' sister, and Glacies' core. Luckily, Marta happened to know of a nearby Vanguard base. Off to... ah screw it. I'm too tired to continue playing.

[1337W422102]

Far Cry [PC]:
Survived the first day. At the multi-island morning level where Jack's gotta bomb 4... things? I don't remember.

Metroid Zero Mission [GBA]:
Playing the Original Metroid mode as I'm tired ot having to write down/enter passwords into my NES. And writing them down wrong (say, putting a small square instead of a lower-case o) is infuriating. Plus, whenever I put my backed-up Metroid 0 saves onto my GBA flashcart, the game tells me the file is corrupted and I lose all my progress. But, the Gallery is still there, and my Original Metroid progress is saved. Strange.

Found the Maru Mari and 2 missile tanks.

Broken Sword [GBA]:
I initially avoided this game because the title sounded like yet another GBA RPG. Turns out, it's an oldschool adventure game. Think Monkey Island or Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.

Met the Parisian reporter, got her phone number, and got into her apartment (but that's all she let me into). Currently at the Hotel in Paris, snooping around.

Combat Arms [PC]:
So, the new game mode, Fireteam, came out. Basically, it's like Double Dragon, but with M16s and East African warlords. With a team of up to 8 people, you have to work together to rescue a hostage (spoiler: he dies each time), then find some intel in what's left a city, and get the hell out of there. It's hard as hell and damn near impossible. I guess for a sense of realism and to promote teamwork.

[The Happy Locust]

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
Infiltrated the Vanguard base, solving a series of color coded gate puzzles and a torch-extinguishing one. As usual, Sheena managed to somehow find a pitfall to fall down and Regal had to go rescue her. Emil and Marta continued through the area with Zelos, eventually reaching the innermost chambers where we found Lloyd fighting... Lloyd?
Looks like our 2 LLoyds theory was right. After dispatching one of them and proving it to be Decus, Alice showed up again with Zelos' sister as a hostage. Luckily, a surprise save by Sheena, Regal, and Collette saved Seles from Alice. We tried to chase after Alice but Decus decided to protect his fave girl, leading to a surprisingly difficult boss battle which wouldn't have been so bad except I had to watch the same unskippable cut-scene 3 times because of my failure. Anyway, defeated Decus but Alice escaped. Rescued Seles. Lloyd was now proven innocent of the crimes I had accused him of.
As we left the base, Lloyd threatened us for our cores. Despite his friends being with us, he refused to tell us anything about his motives and took off to the sky in a Rheiard again. He may be innocent of the Palmacosta, Luin, and Flanoir crimes, but he's still got something else going on.
After returning Seles home, she was so grateful that she gave us Glacies' core. Finally...
After that, we had to split up again. Regal and Sheena will stay with my team. Zelos, still believing in Lloyd, refused to accompany us. Now for the next core. Meltokio's been suffering from Earthquakes and the Earth temple is nearby, so we may as well check it out.

[Psycho Warrior]

Fallout 3
Completed the Pitt with the 'good ending' which oddly enough ended with me stealing a baby. Now i only have the level 30 achievements and I'm done with fallout... until Point Lookout and Mothership Zeta come out.

[The Happy Locust]

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
Went to the Earth temple and found it closed for repairs. Go figure. Okay, let's try the temple of Lightning instead. REached the temple and was blocked by some Martel guards. After a violent misunderstanding, Dr. Seidrich of the imperial academy agreed to hear us out if we met him at the academy in Sybak. Okay, road trip to Sybak.
IN Sybak, killed time by theorizing about Emil's violent mood swings... oops. Emil wasn't supposed to hear that. We also found a lot of people kept calling Emil by the name Aster, apparently mistaking him for someone else. Hmm... Eventually, Dr. Seidrich returned to his office and told us Aster's story. Apparently he was a researcher who was killed by Richter. And since Emil's been having dreams of Richter killing him, perhaps there's a connection. In any case, a researcher named Rilena is at the temple and can answer these questions.
Enough talking, on to the temple of lightning. Got there and found we no longer needed permission as the Vanguard had assaulted the temple and killed the guards. Fought off the Vanguard and worked our way through a set of puzzles involving colored lightning and dark rooms. Afterwards, found Rilena being attacked by the Vanguard. Emil somehow gained a black hole spell and used it against the Vanguard, sucking Rilena in as well. Oops. Emil's dark personality didn't give a rat's ass about Rilena, earning the ire of the other team members. At the top of the temple, was attacked by a lightning creature and earned Tilend... Tilan... crap. I forgot the centurion's name.
Tenebrae recognized the spell that Emil used on Rilena as a recall spell Ratatosk used to summon the centurions. Most likely, that meant that Rilena had been transported to the Temple of Earth. Luckily for us, that's our next stop.

Fallout
Started the game, failed miserably as I tried to get a hang of the system. Traveled to Shady Sands and cleared it of a Radscorpion problem. After talking with the locals, realized I'd made a horrible mistake.
I'd forgotten to enter a name. Now everyone refers to me as 'None'

[Shadowman]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl:
What do you do when Chernobyl blows up again? You set a game there! A more rugged version of Fallout.

Woke up with an obligatory case of amnesia. Got a mission to kill a bunch of bandits in a car park that has no cars, which I did, only succeeding the third time after turning down the difficulty, and staying the hell outta site. Now I've got to go steal military secrets. And perhaps shoot people.

One thing that irks me about this game is that the guns just don't feel like they pack a punch. Weird.

[Tweezy]

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift:

I'm on the last quest, final battle, etc. Doing miscellaneous quests to level up my characters and the one story related clan member that will undoubtedly be forced into this battle, and has been completely useless thus far (the one that looks like a mutated goat).

[Shadowman]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl:
Good LORD I underestimated these enemies. One rookie bandit, with a shotgun, from maybe ten or so feet away, can one-shot you. Yikes. I had to restart from a save like three times trying to take ONE building. There were, in think, five guys in the building.

Luckily, pretty much every corpse will have some kind of useful item, usually minor health items and some ammo.

[Psycho Warrior]

Fallout 3 Xbox 360
level 30's achievements are mine. I have a perfect gamerscore in fallout 3 until the next DLC comes out.

[Shadowman]

Hitman: Blood Money:
God this game has some pretty graphics. Pretty graphics that I haven't had to turn down! I love the detail and shine on 47's suit, looks really nice.

The game, much like the movie, is told through flashbacks, in this case a former FBI director/wheelchair-bound Two-Face lookalike, telling the events to a reporter with a REALLY poopy haircut, voiced by Crispin Freeman.

Started, as 47, of course, by offing a mafia man who had built a really shoddy ferris wheel that led to many people getting killed. Before I even drew my gun on him, he began sobbing, begging for forgiveness, and admitting his guilt kept him from even sleeping. It was very hard to pull the trigger, I have to admit.

Next, I killed a Father & Son drug cartel. Neither of them cried, I don't really feel too bad there. Next, an opera singer and a senator. While I would normally feel bad about killing those kinds of people, they were both into child prostitution.

After that, I had to kill another mafia man and rescue my old "pal" Smith from a rehab clinic...and really NICE rehab clinic, actually. Cherry blossoms everywhere. I think that level is one where the graphics really look best on the scenery.

Then I had to head to the suburbs and off a...federal witness? Huh. I had to kill his wife to get microfilm hidden in her necklace, which sucks because I prefer not to kill civilians if at all possible.

Now to Mardi Gras...where stray bullets are almost guaranteed...

Psychonauts:
If you think this game is bad you've either never played it, or you're a liar.

Did some major exploring, getting to level 20 and the Cobweb duster before even getting the Psy-Blast. Just got levitation, as well, so I can finish the brain tumbler.

Infernal:
Helluva shooter. I'm not sure how to describe the aesthetic, it's a bit like Painkiller, but more modern (There are computer-controlled gates and ID access locks), while the gameplay is somewhat like Metal Gear Solid, without the stealth.

I'm a fallen angel hired by what may or may not be Satan to do...I dunno. I'm shooting people a lot. I can also give my weapons additional hellfire. Hellfire-charged shurikens? Yes.

[The Happy Locust]

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
Back at the Temple of Earth, found Rilena, who was hurt but not too badly. After implicity comfirming that Emil is really Aster via a heretofore unseen birthmark, she was taken to safety. We went further in, eventually reaching the altar. No core to be found. Sigh... But no sign of the Vanguard either. After solving a falling floor puzzle, found a hidden passage and was attacked by giant caterpillars.
After pacifying the caterpillars, one of them offered to carry us down the mine shaft, clear to another continent. That's a fast trip.
Found ourselves in a supposed-to-be destroyed Exsphere mine. Worked our way through until we reached daylight. Regal decided to return to his company to find out why the mine wasn't fully destroyed despite his orders.
visited the Luxurious Altamira resort. From there, enjoyed the sights while Regal showed us around town. While Regal was speaking to his advisors, the Vanguard attacked the city under the pretense of rescuing the 'kidnapped' Marta. They threatened to blow up the city and everyone in it if Marta was not handed over to them.
While REgal and Sheena went looking for better options than losing a friend or losing the city, Marta decided to play the hero and ran off to turn herself in. The rest of us gathered together to go storm the vanguard's staging area, hopefully disabling the detonator long enough to evacuate the citizens in the process. We're off... TO THE CASINO!

[Shadowman]

Infernal:
Hunting some crazy professor down. Unfortunately, he already left, and I'm left to deal with his amazingly hot assassin chick.

[Tristar]

Disgaea2:

Currently Searching for Etna after she kicked the Crap out of Overlord Zenon who is currently regenerating.

[8 bit]

Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos NES:
Decided to sit down with my NES Advantage and play through this classic title. This game is still a challenging and fun experience, even though I've played it hundreds of times. I was just taking a little hiatus from...

The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess Gamecube:
Currently at the abandoned desert prison, and as I recall, the boss fight in this dungeon was epic; so I'm looking forward to that.

[Shadowman]

Psychonauts:
Cleared the Brain Tumbler. After that, fought off the giant mutant lungfish named Linda (Voiced by David Kaye, yessss) before tearing through Linda's psyche, Lunfishopolis, she (?) was willing to take me to the Whispering Rock Insane Asylum. From there, everyone's favorite level, the Milkman Conspiracy, because The Milkman's Milk Is Delicious. Now I'm in the loony bin, and it's time to deal with the last handful of Psyches before the end of the game, and the Meat Circus.

[The Happy Locust]

Fallout
Moved on from Shady sands to Junktown. Became friendly with the local shop owner and helped him get evidence against the local crime boss, even assisting in killing said crime boss. Next up, took on gang violence. The solution? Violence against the gang. Junktown is peaceful once again.
Not seeing much else to do, moved on to the Hub.

[Shadowman]

Second Sight:
John Vattic. An amnesiac, and murderer, albeit unintentionally. Oh, and he has psychic powers.

I've played this before, the gameplay is very similar to Metal Gear, but with, of course, psychic powers.

Currently leaving the complex where I was being kept, having a flashback to being recruited into WinterICE, an black ops team. However, since Vattic is only an adviser, he's not entirely certain why he's being brought along. Got some pistol and sniper rifle training, as well as stealth training.

Back in the present, developed a move where I send a black of psychic power straight forward, knocking back and typically killing anyone it hits...first person was a security guard, again, Vattic was not happy about killing him. Checked his computer and found personnel file storage, and deactivated the security camera. And checked a chat with...the dead security guard's wife...ooh...

Psychonauts:
And now onto less depressing psychics. Freed Fred Bonaparte from a crazed genetic memory of his deceased ancestor. I actually like Waterloo World a bit more than Milkman Conspiracy.

Infernal:
Rampaging through an oil refinery. I have not yet blown the place to hell, but damn it if I'm not looking for a way.

[The Happy Locust]

Tales of Symphonia: DAwn of the New World
Long story since my last post. Cliff notes time.
Turned ourselves in to the Vanguard. REgal used his remote control handcuffs to power down the facility, letting us escape. We then managed to steal the detonator and high tail it out of there. Brute, the Vanguard commander (and Marta's dad) overpowered us but a lucky distraction let us run past him. Regal and Sheena both stayed behind to help us escape. Alice caught us at the gate but a timely appearance by Presea saved us. We retreated to Sheena's hometown. Raine and Genis were already there and rejoined us. We set up a plan to attack the city and defeat the vanguard. Unfortunately, the Vanguard followed us and attacked this town too.
We routed there forces but Mizuho was no longer safe. Our new plan involved sneaking back into town and defeating Brute, allowing us to take back the Centurion's core. To sneak back into town, Tenebrae transformed into a MIdna-esque lady of darkness, leaving the guards salivating over 'her' while we snuck into the hotel. From there, took an underground tunnel to the Lezareno business tower and we fought our way up. AFter scanning the security system, our teams split up. Raine, Genis, and Presea would attack the obvious route to the boss, leaving us a distraction to sneak in the back way.
As we went up, Alice showed up again, asking our help surprisingly. Apparently Decus had lost his mind due to the core's influence. we tried to help but Alice used this opportunity to kidnap Marta and leave me with a bloodlusting Decus. Luckily, Collette and Zelos were storming the tower as well and Collette tripped over the button to a secret entrance leading to the room I was in (her back-luck-to-good-luck consistency is a character trait of hers). I was saved and Decus remained locked in the room.
We continued our way up the tower, eventually finding where Marta was locked up. She had tried to talk her father out of his plans but his mind was warped by the core too. After Brute left, we freed her. In front of Brute's office, the rest of our team arrived, having survived their decoy mission.
We battled Brute, defeating him and retriving the core. Decus made his grab for the core. With Decus mad and Brute dying, we hatched the core, returning them to sanity. Decus took off with Alice. We rushed to find a doctor, only to find Lloyd battling Richter. Surprisingly, Richter was too strong for LLoyd but our combined power was enough to fight him off. Richter made two startling revelations. One, he was working for the demons that Ratatosk's power kept sealed. Two, Emil was actually Ratatosk. WTF?
Emil passed out. New memories emerged of Richter and Aster asking Ratatosk for help. Ratatosk figured the best way to save the world was to kill all humans, elves, half-elves, etc (he was still peeved about his world tree being shattered a few millenia ago when the world was split). He killed aster, sending Richter into a mad rage. Somehow, Richter managed to defeat the still weak Ratatosk but the centurions defended him.
Basically, Ratatosk copied Aster's form, made up memories, and passed himself off as 'Emil'. Whenever Emil's 'other self' appeared, it was actually Ratatosk's memories. Looks like our hero is actually out to destroy the world. Good thing Emil's a good person and is effectively Ratatosk's 'conscience' given form.
Lloyd, had everyone meet him at the new world tree, planted at the end of the first game. We also met the Tree's guardian, Yuan (also a character from the first game). Lloyd finally explained his actions. Ratatosk had to be stopped or else he would destroy all the people on the planet. However, Ratatosk's existence strengthened the gate that kept the demons of another realm out of our world. To kill Ratatosk would set the world ablaze, but to let him live would kill everyone anyway. New plan is the get Ratatosk and his centurions and stick them behind the gate, keeping them alive but unable to influence our world in anyway. Because Ratatosk has a network of monsters that hear everything, Lloyd couldn't tell anyone except near the world tree, where Ratatosk had no influence.
Despite the DAnger, 'Emil' is a good person who doesn't want anyone to die. Our new plan is to find a way to merge both of Emil's personalities, reviving him fully as Ratatosk but with the Good Emil as a conscience. If this works, The world is saved and the demons stay in the other realm.

Heavy stuff. To relax, took a trip to the hot springs on a now-unlocked island. Once again, Zelos went peeping on the ladies and Lloyd and Emil tried to stop him. As before, the culprit fled and poor Lloyd got the **** beat out of him by the ladies for being a 'peeping tom'. Poor Lloyd. On a 2nd trip, the guys decided to go take a bath. Oddly, Emil was the only one there, that is until he saw a naked Marta in the spring with him. Apparently Marta had put up fake 'under repair' signs to keep everyone else away. Emil was so shocked he screamed, bringing everyone else running and creating a somewhat embarrassing situation for Emil and Marta.

[Shadowman]

Final Fantasy V:
After the Wind Temple goes wonky, and a meteor crashed (Without containing an alien presence, for once), Bartz (An adventurer who's a little more like Tidus and a lot less like Cloud), Lenna (A Princess of a nearby kingdom), and Galuf (an old guy with amnesia) team up to go fix things. They hitch a ride with pirate captain Faris (Also totally a guy). Upon reaching the Wind Temple (Much much smaller than any Wind Temple in Zelda), we find that the Wind Crystal is shattered. That...can't be good.

After some more wandering, we end up in the Ship Graveyard where, after an incident involving wet clothing and unnecessary roughness, everyone is shocked (And somewhat relieved, given a separate incident at an Inn) to find that Faris is a woman. When asked why she would dress like a man, she explains the obvious: Would you want to be the only woman in a bunch of dirty, misogynistic pirates?

After some more wandering, we get a neat Dragon and head back to Lenna's Kingdom, where Lenna reveals her sneaking suspicion that Faris is her sister. From there, we head to Walse, where I got my ass kicked in by Shiva.

Final Fantasy VII:
Blew up Mako Reactors 1 and 5, met Aerith (Again, her named was changed because I played the Compilation) saved her form the Turks, and took her home where nothing happened.

[The Happy Locust]

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
Moving on from my last post. Went to see Verius but she couldn't help due to Emil's heart being undecided. Suddenly, Emil goes into convulsions as the Demon door his life protects is nearly forced open. After powering it shut, the Dark Emil emergest again, attacks Lloyd and takes back the core to gain its power. When the dark emil threatens the party, the good Emil makes up his mind and calls upon Verius' help, sealing his dark side away and fully taking over the responsibility as Ratatosk. With that settled, its time to go make a final stand. We're off to the Otherwordly gate. But first, everyone separates to tie up their own personal loose ends. After visiting my hometown and reconciling with my aunt and Uncle, Emil meets Marta in Altamira for a romantic interlude. During Emil's trip, we learn that his plan to save the world involves sealing himself away forever. Emil's not the type to just lock his dark side (who is a full consciousness to itself) away forever and can only bear the responsibility if he joins him in eternal darkness. Sigh...
After rejoining our crew, we move to the Otherworldly gate and fight our way through a few floors. At the bottom, all our comrades suddenly vanish. Apparently, Ratatosk had been given a special emblem to a half-elf hero ages ago and was betrayed by the hero and had put a curse/seal on the emblem, immediately imprisoning anyone who wore it in this area. Too bad Emil's partial memory forgot that detail. Time to go free our friends.
A little ways in, Alice and Decus appeared and challenged us. I lost and got a game over. I'll try that battle again later.

[Shadowman]

Final Fantasy VII:
Left Midgar. Had some fun, albeit half-true, flashbacks in Kalm, then caught a Chocobo. Now I'm running through forests looking for Yuffie because damn it, I actually like Yuffie. Unfortunately, her unwillingness to appear has become a sort of unintentional grinding session; Cloud, for example, is at level 17, and he was at, I think, level 13 when we left Kalm.

EDIT: And the first fight I get into after I originally posted this...was against Yuffie. Huh. And now she's part of my gang of miscreants. Because every gang needs a Ninja.

[Shadowman]

It's been about 34 hours. I can double post, right? RIGHT?!

Final Fantasy VII:
Went to Junon, where I ruined a live broadcast of a parade for Rufus. I have decided that I screwed up simply to stick it to Rufus.

From there, Costa del Sol, where the women are so loose they even swoon over Hojo, a creepy, ethics-free scientist, who looks consistently dirty. And if he's not insulting you, he's likely sticking a syringe full of something unsafe into you. How he got into Lucrecia's pants and fathered Sephiroth is beyond me, Vincent must have said or did something VERY unpleasant.

Then to Corel, a town that has either been destroyed by Shinra, or is simply the biggest collection of Fallout 3 fans ever.

Then to Gold Saucer, a fun-tastic amusement park, and probably a huge waste of taxpayer money.

Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask:
Whereas Ocarina of Time had a theme of Time, Majora's Mask took it one step further, to a theme of Inevitability. Very dark. But then this isn't 1997 so I don't think I'm telling anyone anything they didn't already know.

Made it to the Deku Palace, learned the Sonata of Awakening.

Also, Skull Kid is not nearly as competent a villain as Ganondorf. Ganondorf would use the Mask to basically hold the world hostage. Skull Kid s just using it for attention. Major difference in ambition there.

[The Happy Locust]

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
GAME.OVER!
After defeating Decus and Alice (and inadvertantly causing their deaths in a tragic yet oddly sweet scene), moved on further into the gate realm. Found Lloyd waiting down by the bottom. the rest of our Friends had been turned to stone. Lloyd was saved due to Martel's protection though. Luckily, being Ratatosk, Emil only had to touch them to free them.
After freeing our friends, Centurion Aqua attacked us to buy Richter more time. She turned into a Ghidorah-looking water dragon. We defeated the dragon, injuring Aqua enough to turn her back into a core. Rather than hatch the core, we decided to let aqua rest for now out of empathy.
We found Richter at the gate. We tried to talk him out of opening the demon gate but he felt that me asking for mercy was somewhat hypocritical as my other self had killed Richter's best friend and now wore his face. Yeah, I could understand that. Oh well, TO BATTLE!
Richter, now powered up by the demons was a fire-haired anime cliche. Still, looked cool. Fought and defeated him and went to try and seal the door. Because the original seal had been broken, Ratatosk's power alone was not enough anymore. Richter revealed his plans had been less evil than expected. His plan was to kill Ratatosk, Resurrect Aster, and then use his own body as a seal to keep the demons out. to this end, he had a Magic stone and a Cruxis crystal. We now had a backup plan.
Emil resealed the door, but when he did his evil side came back. Emil stranged Marta and had to fight Marta and Lloyd to take back Aqua's core. AFter losing the battle, it turned out the evil Emil hadn't come back. the good emil was pretending to be evil so that the others would kill him, reverting him into a core that could be used as a lock on the door. The others forgave Emil but didn't hesitate to tell him how stupid this idea was. Rather than try to atone for his evil self's deeds, Emil went inside his heart and confronted the evil self. Showing the other him the power of compassion and kindness, the two came to an understanding and merged.
The new, more moderate Ratatosk called off his plans to destroy humanity and instead will rewrite the rules of Mana, reverting the world to its state before the Kharlan tree was planted and making all living things no longer reliant on Mana. While he did this, Richter would use himself to hold the gate shut. The downside, I would need to seal all entrances to the gate, locking Emil and Richter there for eternity. sigh... I said my goodbyes.
Luckily, I had been doing everything right and got the 'really good' ending. Because of this, my Centurions were willing to take over while 'Emil' was returned to the living world to live out his life as a human. As for Richter, the rewrite ritual would take about 1000 years, after which Ratatosk promised to release him. Emil and Marta were happily reunited.

I have to say I did truly enjoy this game. It's a B rating at least.
The pros: The characters were all well characterized and I honestly enjoyed listening to their conversations and their world views.

The cons: Loss of the overworld. Being able to roam around the map is a joy in these games as it gives a sense of scale and exploration/discovery. This game was much more linear, with far less exploration necessary.
The grinding factor isn't quite what it should be. Despite a fair amount of grinding on my part, the lack of branching paths or exploratory battles left me vastly underpowered for a lot of the game. When my 'classic characters' departed, my primary characters had a tough time managing.

the mixed: The animal taming system is a mixed bag. By itself, it works great. However, once the characters from the first game start joining my party the monster aspect is useless. Additionally, having only two characters who can use items limits my options a bit. Conversely, the 1st game characters can't be leveled up or equipped, so they become a crutch after a while.

[Shadowman]

Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask:
Took down the Woodfall and Snowhead Temples. Now I'm working on breaching the Gerudo Pirate's defenses. Though it makes me think, seeing as how almost everyone in Termina is identical to someone from Hyrule, wouldn't that mean that one of the pirates would be identical to Ganondorf?