Glen-i

I can't even remember the last film I watched... It was probably a Studio Ghibli affair when I borrowed all of @Dcubed's DVDs and watched them. That was a long time ago...

I'm kinda leaning on the idea of naming my Gen 8 team the most humdrum and boring English names I can think of. So stuff like "Tim" or "Paul" or "Sally" Blue Tektite made me laugh though, that one was a perfect choice!

I've been putting this off long enough... Final Fantasy X HD Remaster is a "does exactly what it says on the tin" remaster of the PS2 title, Final Fantasy X, which came out in 2002. It's a turn-based RPG made by SquareSoft (Now known as Square Enix). The HD remaster came out for the PS3 and the PS Vita in 2014. But I played the PC version which came out 2 years later. The game follows Tidus, a famous Blitzball player from the city of Zanarkand who's about to compete in a Blitzball tournament only to have the city attacked by a giant creature called Sin. After fighting alongside a mysterious man called Auron, it all goes tits up and the two get abducted by Sin to a strange world called Spira. Tidus is rescued by a woman called Rikku who informs Tidus that Zanarkand was destroyed 1,000 years ago. Tidus gets attacked by Sin again (Sin's kind of a massive jerk like that) and washes up on the Island of Besaid. Here, he meets a whole host of characters, including Yuna, a woman who has been tasked with going on a pilgrimage to obtain a "Final Aeon" and defeat Sin. Tidus decides to join Yuna in the hopes of getting back to Zanarkand. I'm not really sure what to make of this story. It's good... I think? It certainly has some nice ideas, but I do have a few questions. Not that that's a bad thing, a good story does leave some aspects up to interpretation, but I kinda wanted more out of it. Apart from that weirdness in the spoiler tag, I did enjoy the plot in this game, it's helped by surprisingly decent voice acting from most of the cast. Back in 2002, voice acting in video games was more miss than hit, so I was a bit apprehensive starting Final Fantasy X knowing that it was the first Final Fantasy game to have fully voice acted cutscenes, but the cast do a great job. It won't blow you away, (except Jon DiMaggio as Wakka, who is an utter joy to listen to, but then again, he voiced Bender from Futurama. And I just learned he also voiced Kimahri, which shows amazing range!) but it's certainly servicable. Well, OK, apart from Yuna, who I honestly thinks sounds drunk throughout the whole game. Well either that, or she's totally high. She ended up making a lot of the scenes unintentionally funny, which is fine by me. Compared to previous Final Fantasy titles, Final Fantasy X plays remarkably differently. It still has random encounters and turn based battles, and stuff. But it drops the ATB system that's been present in the past 6 games. Instead battles take a far more traditional approach with time stopping whenever one of your party members turn comes around. If you look at the right of the above screenshot, you can see the upcoming turn order, this lets you effectively plan ahead. As well as this, certain attacks and abilities can influence the upcoming turn order. You're also free to switch party members on the fly, letting you choose the perfect character for the enemy you're facing. This game also does away with the traditional way of levelling up, instead of normal stat boosts, winning in battles nets you sphere levels which you can use to travel around a "sphere grid" It felt a bit intimidating when the game introduced this to me, but in all honesty, it's pretty easy to get to grips with. As you move around the board, you unlock these spheres and get stat boosts or new abilities. It's the main way of getting stronger and it works pretty well. Later on, you can get some special spheres that can let party members jump around the board and learn some skills meant for other characters. So you could make Yuna, who's normally a White Mage, a bulky tank instead, if you want. There's also an extensive mini game called Blitzball, but I tried the tutorial and it's the most confusing load of nonsense I've ever seen in a game. I don't know if the game is genuinely way too complicated or if the tutorial does a poor job of telling you how it works (It's probably both). Thankfully, you don't ever need to excel in it to progress, so I didn't bother. Anyway, it's time to moan about my favourite thing to moan about in Final Fantasy games after the 7th entry... Oh, OK, sure. Screw you then. Yep, if you want to get the best swag for your party, you're going to have to jump through a ridiculous amount of obscure and downright stupid hoops. Take the GIF above, you're supposed to dodge that lightning bolt... 200 times... in a row... And that gets you half of the things you need to get one weapon for one character. You're damn right I didn't bother! I've just given up on getting nice stuff in Final Fantasy games at this point now. Accurate depiction of me and Final Fantasy secrets. Final Fantasy X also pulls a controversial move and gets rid of the traditional world map and opts for a more linear progression. I can live with this. It was no doubt done because it was just unreasonable to develop a grand world map for a Final Fantasy that looked as good at this, concessions had to be made and the World Map was the unfortunate victim of this. The HD remaster also includes a number of assist options for lazy sods who don't actually want to play the game, you have various options such as giving you max money and other cheaty things. There's even an option to speed up the game, much like Bravely Default, which is great when you want to spend some time grinding. Graphics wise, the game looks fine, as the title suggests, it's got a nice shiny HD lick of paint and the game looks nice. It's still a PS2 game in heart, so it's not gonna compare to modern games these days, but it's certainly nice on the eyes. It's also got widescreen support, which is very much appreciated. The game also has the option of using the original soundtrack or a new rearrangement. This new rearrangement is kinda inconsistent in it's quality. Some songs are better than the original while some are not as good. Oh well, at least they tried, I suppose. But all in all, Final Fantasy X HD Remaster is a competent remaster of a pretty fun RPG, nowhere near my favourite Final Fantasy, but I enjoyed my time with it. It's coming out for the Switch and XBox One in April, so yeah. It's gonna be a good time to give it a go soon if you're interested.

Hey there, welcome to the forums! Hope you enjoy it here.

Zero Suit Samus's Classic route involves having to beat 6 Little Macs on the fight before the final boss... HA HA HA HA HA! NOPE! That's a whole new level of hopeless 9.9 runs!

Yeah, this still follows the bullet hell lite aspect. There's a system that rewards you MP for getting very close to objects without getting hit, which you can use to heal yourself or deal out more powerful attacks, but the "dodge attack patterns on the enemy turn" is still there. Then again, this is much shorter than Undertale, obviously, so maybe you'll not get bored this time. And it's free, so you might as well try it, see if it clicks this time.

Do you recall which aspect of them tired you? Because while Deltarune has a more evolved version of the Undertale battle system, they do share similarities.

Hate to be that guy, but if Sony barely cared about the Vita, I seriously doubt they'll care about a second. Which sucks.

Yes, you're absolutely right. But it's the only way I could actually enjoy this game (and most games that involve shooting things). I hate aiming a gun with a stick. Because it always feels completely unnatural to me.

Next League Night: 7th March 8pm Room 1: @BowserBasher is host @Glen-i @BowserBasher @viceview51 @martinist @RedShell I think it's time to get ourselves reacquainted with our good friend, 200cc. I hope your braking skills haven't gotten too rusty! To help get you up to speed (Don't you dare groan!), you're free to choose your vehicle setup. Sign up now!

EDIT: Oh right, I almost forgot about this creepy occurrence. @martinist @Vileplume2000 @S.C.G @Sméagol and @viceview51 are clearly planning something heinous with the number 6... or something.

When I haven't got Smash in effect, his side Smash and Up Smash are what I use, They've got good range and if you get close enough, you actually hit your opponent with the red part of the sword before the blue glowing part shoots out, making it a surprisingly quick Smash attack. With Monado Smash in effect however, that's a whole different affair. This cannot be understated. Smash is devastating! For example, Shulk's forward tilt can KO Mario from the middle of Battlefield at 94%. Which is bonkers! Meanwhile, an uncharged forward Smash KO's him at 70%! If someone's at 100% or more, Monado Smash makes the vast majority of Shulk's moves killing moves! So that's what I normally go with.

I can give a few pointers. Shulk is my main, after all. As far as basic fighting style goes, Shulk excels at pressurising opponents at a respectable distance. Most of his moves have impressive range to them, especially his Smash attacks. However, I find that his bread and butter involves his neutral air and his front air. These moves are quick and have range. They also have very little end lag when landing, so it's easy to combo someone who gets hit with it. Neutral air into up tilt into another air attack is a pretty easy combo to get to grips with when your opponent is at low damage. Shulk's Specials are pretty standard for the most part. Back Slash (Side B) does more damage if you hit someone from behind but it leaves you quite open if you miss. Also, never use this over a hole. Everyone will laugh at you if you do, because it's very funny. You can actually slightly influence the trajectory of the descent by tilting the stick forwards or backwards. Air Slash (Up B) is a two-hit combo mostly used for recovery, pressing B twice makes him perform a second slash that lifts you a little further. Vision (Down B) seems like your standard Marth counter, but it has a bit of nuance to it. The activation window is bigger than other counters, making it easy to use. But using it too much in a short space of time reduces that window, so be careful not to use it too much. If you're really good, tilting the stick forward when you pull off a successful counter will make you do a stronger counterattack with great launching power. Once you get the basics down, you can mess with Shulk's more technical Special. Monado Arts (Neutral B) allows you to change Shulk's stats in quite dramatic ways. Each of the 5 arts temporarily turns Shulk into a specialised master in some way, but comes at the cost of lowering stats somewhere else. You can tap B to cycle through each art or hold the button to bring up a quick access wheel. It's worth memorising where each one is. Jump increases your jump height and aerial movement. It also increases the height of Air Slash. This lowers your defense, so you take more damage when it's in effect. This has a great number of uses. You can use it to chase someone trying to get back on to the stage or even to bounce around the place like the annoying flea you are to avoid Final Smashes. But the best way to use it is when you get launched off the stage. You can tap B once to activate Jump even when you're going flying, so quick reactions can pretty much guarantee that you'll get back on the stage. Speed increases your movement speed, letting Shulk run at Sonic's level of speed, but lowers his attack power and reduces his jump height. I find this one the least useful, but it is great for running off to grab an item before anyone else, especially on large stages. Shield increases your defense and weight, it also increases your shield's durability, but it lowers your attack power and movement speed. Obviously, this one should be used when you have a high amount of damage and want to stop yourself from getting KO'd. That extra living time can be used for racking up a bit more damage before you eventually get offed. It can also be used if you think that getting hit by a Final Smash is something you can't avoid. Buster increases your attack power, but lowers your defense and launch power. What this means is that Shulk will deal more damage, but can't launch opponents as well. That launch power reduction is actually a good thing though, because it makes it easier to perform combos and seeing as each hit stings like hell, you can really build up the damage. It's a great art to use at the start of a fight, or when someone is at low damage. Smash increases your launch power, but lowers your attack power and weight. Basically, the opposite of Buster, your attacks send people flying, but deal less damage. Naturally, you use this to KO opponents at high damage. But careful, it works both ways, you're easier to launch too. Smash also has the interesting side effect of making it easier to break the Smash Ball. Which is neat. A good Shulk player uses his great range and Monado Arts to adapt to a variety of situations and really lay pressure on opponents. You want to be careful with using Buster and Smash when you're fighting more than one person. Getting caught in a hilarious pile up can really make them backfire on you. Remember that you can cancel an art by pressing B three times quickly, but once an art is used, there's a cooldown period before you can use it again. So yeah, that's Shulk and how to use him well. A bit wordy, but hopefully that helps. Oh, and side taunt makes him shout "I'm really feeling it!", which is the most important thing. Yeah, I think you kinda turned me around on Time, I guess I've played too many Time matches where people just become opportunistic and snipe people at high damage for points. But the N_E session last week was a lot of fun and funny. I mean, I still prefer stock, but I wouldn't mind Time showing up in future sessions. I guess we could cycle through each style each week. So Time - Stock - Stamina- Time and so on?

@Ugh first aid would like a word with you... Good matches, everyone. I'm very tired now. Stamina mode definitely has it's moments. Especially when someone dies in a very anticlimactic way!

Accepted, come on in.

Are you on my friends list? You should be able to find it in the Friends arena section.

Bugger, almost forgot! Cheers! Room's open now.

A sensitive person would apologise to @RedShell for that cheeky Bob-omb on the bridge on Yoshi's Valley. Oh well!

BTW, I'm up for some post Mario Kart Smash at 9pm. I'm feeling in the mood for Stamina this week, anyone else game?

You can't stop me picking Random!

As far as the 3D games go? Yeah, pretty much. The Pokémon models are the same as the ones on the 3DS.

Seems close to the anime really? It's fine if you like that sort of style. (I don't, but I can overlook it really)

Oh right! @Gourmetsalt! He's kinda vanished, so I'm not too sure.

Eh? No-one else has declared themselves in...

@Ugh first aid has notified me that most of the fanbase has designated the female trainer as Scottish. Which is funny in and of itself, but it led to this. Yeah, now it's my headcanon too.