Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
Aratoeldar
Mar 21, 2005

Captain Scandinaiva posted:

I grabbed the original Ghost Recon and both of it's expansions (Desert Siege and Island Thunder) a while back and now I have an itch for tactical FPS'ing.

Any tips? Does it matter what order I play them?

Play them in order. The companion AI isn't the greatest even with the 1.04 patch.

If a teammate is injured, he-she will be be unavailable for the next mission. Make sure you do all four objectives for each mission. This will unlock specialists that will make the game more interesting.

Use your other teams and teammates for covering fire. If there is mission critical object. You have to do it yourself.

Most of all have fun with it.

I play these games at least once a year. I'm not a fan of what UbiSoft has done with GR and R6.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Ainsley McTree
Feb 19, 2004


An important thing to know for ME1 is that you want to have at least one party member with tech skills, otherwise you can't pick locks or hack computers. If you didn't pick an engineer or infiltrator as your class, make sure you take tali, garrus, or kaidan along with you. Upgrade their decryption and electronics (I think) skills as soon as possible until you get the master rank; that way no doors or computers will be unavailable to you.

It's kind of lame that they force you to do that; ME2 fixes it by having hacking/bypass be an entirely separate minigame, having nothing to do with tech skills.

SolidSnakesBandana
Jul 1, 2007

Infinite ammo

Ainsley McTree posted:

It's kind of lame that they force you to do that; ME2 fixes it by having hacking/bypass be an entirely separate minigame, having nothing to do with tech skills.

A fantastic change, by the way. I was an infiltrator in ME1 for this reason and was an infiltrator in ME2 as well (same save). I was pretty far before I realized that my being an infiltrator had no effect on my hacking, I felt pretty stupid at that point.

-A69-
Apr 2, 2009

SolidSnakesBandana posted:

A fantastic change, by the way. I was an infiltrator in ME1 for this reason and was an infiltrator in ME2 as well (same save). I was pretty far before I realized that my being an infiltrator had no effect on my hacking, I felt pretty stupid at that point.
for the record, you know you don't have to pick the same class when you import from ME1 right?

Cliff
Nov 12, 2008

Were any of the Shining Force games on the PS2 any good?

Crappy Jack
Nov 21, 2005

We got some serious shit to discuss.

-A69- posted:

for the record, you know you don't have to pick the same class when you import from ME1 right?

I don't understand. He was playing an infiltrator. You're saying he had any reason to change to another class? Why would he gimp himself like that?

Barudak
May 7, 2007

Cliff posted:

Were any of the Shining Force games on the PS2 any good?

Are you expecting an SRPG? Because if thats the case abandon hope. I hear Feather is good, but Neo and the other one on the PS2 are basically dungeon-crawlers without loot drops. You will also hear the phrase "Hot stuff coming your way" so often it will haunt your mind and ruin the word "hot"

Cliff
Nov 12, 2008

Yeah, I know they're not SRPGs :( Feather didn't come out in the US, though. I guess I'll have to make do replaying SF1/2 over and over again.

BigTeaBag
Dec 9, 2004
The Matrix is about black chicks.
Any advice before I start Red Dead Redemption?

Heliotrope
Aug 17, 2007

You're fucking subhuman

BigTeaBag posted:

Any advice before I start Red Dead Redemption?

One thing to be aware of is that unlike the GTA games, if you die while not on a mission it will load your last save. This can cause you to lose progress if you're not careful.

Also animals are out for your blood. Watch your back when you're in the wilderness.

Luisfe
Aug 17, 2005

Hee-lo-ho!

Lets gently caress Bro posted:

Anyone know anything about Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey?

Buffs and debuffs are EXTREMELY USEFUL, and in some battles, having the enemy do a buff-clearing skill can save your rear end (as in allowing you to heal or prepare)

Elemental weaknesses apply both to you and the enemy, but unlike Nocturne, the odds are stacked in your favor due to the followup mechanic.

Instant Kill spells ARE useful and effective. Unfortunately, they are also useful and effective AGAINST YOU.

Save your demons' data often.

Save often.

Comic
Feb 24, 2008

Mad Comic Stylings
I know it doesn't get much love but I'm thinking to try Jade Empire up. Are there any graphical mods or anything that I should really get before playing it? Anything else too since I'm going to be going in blind, thought I'd finally try it out after having it in my Steam library forever untouched.

Barudak
May 7, 2007

Comic posted:

I know it doesn't get much love but I'm thinking to try Jade Empire up. Are there any graphical mods or anything that I should really get before playing it? Anything else too since I'm going to be going in blind, thought I'd finally try it out after having it in my Steam library forever untouched.

In the first area, there is a color puzzle which should be solved. Finding a coin from a fountain hidden on a ridge behind the school lets you solve it again for a permanent stat boost. Finding every poster around town and interacting with them gives you another ridiculous stat boost.

Paralyzing palm utterly breaks the game outside of the final boss.

To cheese the final boss, spend points in the Jade Golem technique which you receive automatically as part of the story.

Sword-Style is devastating, you get it early, and therefore you don't have much reason to change it.

The game is very, very easy.

Ainsley McTree
Feb 19, 2004


BigTeaBag posted:

Any advice before I start Red Dead Redemption?

Do Bonnie's missions first until you get the lasso. The lasso's a nice thing to have.

Buying a horse deed at a store lets you summon the horse whenever you want, however many times you want. So for example if you get yourself a nice horse (you get one from one of Bonnie's missions), and it dies, and you use the horse deed to get another one, the horse deed doesn't disappear, it stays in your inventory forever. So if you bought the deed you'll have an endless supply of that horse at your disposal (only one at a time, obviously). That's what justifies the $1,500 ($750 later on) price tag.

Crappy Jack
Nov 21, 2005

We got some serious shit to discuss.

Ainsley McTree posted:

Do Bonnie's missions first until you get the lasso. The lasso's a nice thing to have.

Buying a horse deed at a store lets you summon the horse whenever you want, however many times you want. So for example if you get yourself a nice horse (you get one from one of Bonnie's missions), and it dies, and you use the horse deed to get another one, the horse deed doesn't disappear, it stays in your inventory forever. So if you bought the deed you'll have an endless supply of that horse at your disposal (only one at a time, obviously). That's what justifies the $1,500 ($750 later on) price tag.

You can also use the deed at any time to autosave; this is very handy if you haven't saved in a while and just want to quickly save without having to pull up camp or head back into town.

ChetReckless
Sep 16, 2009

That is precisely the thing to do, Avatar.

BigTeaBag posted:

Any advice before I start Red Dead Redemption?

When you get to Mexico, don't get off your horse right away.

For the sharpshooter challenge involving hats, aim at the brim, not at the top.

Getting a good shot on your opponent's gun in a duel will end it immediately, without killing him.

Survivalist Maps make the herb/flower collecting challenges pretty trivial.

The physical fold-out map that comes with the game shows the location of gang hideouts and some of the better places to hunt certain critters.

You can skip the skinning animation by parking your horse on the corpse. If there isn't enough room to do the animation without clipping, it'll skip.

Bears tend to travel in packs. Keep one eye behind you at all times in Tall Trees.

Even though one of the first missions involves you shooting someone in the leg to take them alive, this will never work again. As folks have mentioned, get the lasso as early as possible -- this is the only way to take people alive (and get more money from bounty hunting).

"I Know You" is the only stranger mission that can't be done in the post-game.

ChetReckless fucked around with this message at 14:39 on Jul 29, 2010

Namarrgon
Dec 23, 2008

Congratulations on not getting fit in 2011!

Comic posted:

I know it doesn't get much love but I'm thinking to try Jade Empire up. Are there any graphical mods or anything that I should really get before playing it? Anything else too since I'm going to be going in blind, thought I'd finally try it out after having it in my Steam library forever untouched.

Forget Paralysing Palm. Storm Dragon is the most single overpowered thing in the game. It is ridiculous to the extreme and the rest of the game can be done without any difficulty.

That's it more or less, I'd say go in and have fun, it is not a very difficult game (except the final boss in the Arena, could not kill him without Storm Dragon myself) but overall it is great fun.

Captain Scandinaiva
Mar 29, 2010



Aratoeldar posted:

Play them in order. The companion AI isn't the greatest even with the 1.04 patch.

If a teammate is injured, he-she will be be unavailable for the next mission. Make sure you do all four objectives for each mission. This will unlock specialists that will make the game more interesting.

Use your other teams and teammates for covering fire. If there is mission critical object. You have to do it yourself.

Most of all have fun with it.

I play these games at least once a year. I'm not a fan of what UbiSoft has done with GR and R6.

Allright, thanks. :)

...of SCIENCE!
Apr 26, 2008

by Fluffdaddy

Comic posted:

I know it doesn't get much love but I'm thinking to try Jade Empire up. Are there any graphical mods or anything that I should really get before playing it? Anything else too since I'm going to be going in blind, thought I'd finally try it out after having it in my Steam library forever untouched.

One of the characters you meet is a European explorer with a gun, after doing a sidequest for him he offers you several rewards you can choose from, one of which is his gun. This isn't a joke response, you can actually get his gun! It's slow but ridiculously powerful, leveled-up it can one-shot some of the most powerful enemies in the game if you can make it through the two-second animation of loading and aiming. Plus it's just :krad: to wander around ancient china with a bigass gun.

Namarrgon
Dec 23, 2008

Congratulations on not getting fit in 2011!

...of SCIENCE! posted:

One of the characters you meet is a European explorer with a gun, after doing a sidequest for him he offers you several rewards you can choose from, one of which is his gun. This isn't a joke response, you can actually get his gun! It's slow but ridiculously powerful, leveled-up it can one-shot some of the most powerful enemies in the game if you can make it through the two-second animation of loading and aiming. Plus it's just :krad: to wander around ancient china with a bigass gun.

But note, if you want to actually use the gun during the rest of the game (I believe it is easily the most powerful weapon) effectively focus purely on weapon wielding from the very beginning of the game.

MrJacobs
Sep 15, 2008

BigTeaBag posted:

Any advice before I start Red Dead Redemption?

-Go explore the map and try and visit each town relativly early. Thieves Landing is really important due to the Bandanna, which makes you immune to rep changes if you want to go on a rampage without losing honor. The poker suit is also loving sweet if you want to unlock it by winning a few games of poker as it allows you to cheat.

-Hunting is the easiest way to make quick money, followed by bounties. If you don't care about 100% focus on these two as missions don't pay too well.

-You can drag people for roughly 1 mile in-game before they die. Hold LT/L2 after you lasso someone and start moving on foot or horseback to drag them. This is amazingly addictive.
-

I recently purchased Splinter Cell and Pandora Tomorrow on the PC in a 2 for 5$ deal, I have never played the series before, but have been interested for a while. Anything I should know about either of these games before walking in?

Bloodcider
Jun 19, 2009

MrJacobs posted:

I recently purchased Splinter Cell and Pandora Tomorrow on the PC in a 2 for 5$ deal, I have never played the series before, but have been interested for a while. Anything I should know about either of these games before walking in?

They're both very Trial-and-Error. You will gently caress up and reload a lot. I don't really remember much besides that. But the series achieved complete perfection at Chaos Theory, and you should definitely check that one out even if you don't like these two because it fixes every flaw.

Ainsley McTree
Feb 19, 2004


If I recall correctly, hiding in full shadow means that you're 100% invisible so that unless an enemy physically bumps into you, he won't see you no matter how close you are. That's a handy thing to know when you're trying to knock out/avoid guards.

Mierenneuker
Apr 28, 2010


We're all going to experience changes in our life but only the best of us will qualify for front row seats.

Splinter Cell

In the start of the CIA level they tell you to go left, through the air vents. There however is another entrance and it's much easier (less acrobatics required, easier to hide/dodge guards). Sneak to the main entrance and climb up the drainpipe to the left of the door. You'll see a grate you can use to enter the building.

In the Abottoir level, save your wall mines until the end. Edit: every shocker and airfoil round will be helpful at the end too.

Generally, you shouldn't just hide bodies in the shadows. Make sure they're in corners and siderooms, places guards could never stumble upon them. Even if you KO/kill everybody you can still trigger an alarm later if you hide the bodies carelessly.

Mierenneuker fucked around with this message at 23:13 on Jul 29, 2010

Ainsley McTree
Feb 19, 2004


Mierenneuker posted:

Generally, you shouldn't just hide bodies in the shadows. Make sure they're in corners and siderooms, places guards could never stumble upon them. Even if you KO/kill everybody you can still trigger an alarm later if you hide the bodies carelessly.

Won't an alert be triggered if a body is sitting out in plain sight, even if no guard ever actually finds it? It took me forever to figure that one out; even if you take down everyone in the room, make sure all the bodies are at least in shadows. A body out in the light is a ticking time bomb for an alarm, it's kind of stupid.

Aratoeldar
Mar 21, 2005

Captain Scandinaiva posted:

Allright, thanks. :)

A couple more things.

Don't raise any skill (weapons, stealth, ex cetra) higher then 6. it's a waste of a mission point.

Depending on how you play the OC. You may or may not want develop the two anti-tank demo soldiers for the last mission. Personally I use Tunny (Demo specialist you can unlock) and one of the regular demo soldiers.

The OICW is one of the best weapons in the game.

Unlike what Ubisoft did to both of these series ((GR & R6) fast and arcadey). These games are made for the slow and stealthy.

In both expansion packs. You will have part of a couple missions be timed based.

If you have to reload a lot don't worry. The game can be frustrating at times because of the AI, both friendly and enemy.

Aratoeldar fucked around with this message at 00:01 on Jul 30, 2010

Soul Glo
Aug 27, 2003

Just let it shine through
Just got Assassin's Creed and Ninja Gaiden 2 on clearance at Gamestop. Been a while since encountering the former, and I played NG1, but anything I should know going in?

A Fancy 400 lbs
Jul 24, 2008

Soul Glo posted:

Just got Assassin's Creed and Ninja Gaiden 2 on clearance at Gamestop. Been a while since encountering the former, and I played NG1, but anything I should know going in?

If it's Assassin's Creed 1, don't worry about doing absolutely everything. Yes, you CAN go for all flags, all pre-assassination missions, etc, but you don't NEED to, so don't unless it's fun for you.

Ainsley McTree
Feb 19, 2004


You can do counter attacks with the hidden blade for an instant kill. It's riskier though, because you can't block and the window for success seems to be smaller.

That's for AC1; in Assassin's creed 2 it's less risky, because you can block with it.

Soul Glo
Aug 27, 2003

Just let it shine through
Thanks. Anybody got info on Ninja Gaiden 2 that might make it less apt to send a controller through my Xbox?

Promethium
Dec 31, 2009
Dinosaur Gum

Comic posted:

I know it doesn't get much love but I'm thinking to try Jade Empire up. Are there any graphical mods or anything that I should really get before playing it? Anything else too since I'm going to be going in blind, thought I'd finally try it out after having it in my Steam library forever untouched.

Combat system feature that I didn't understand until reading up on it:
A 'harmonic combo' is executed by using the strong/area attack of a support/magic style, causing a circular timer to appear under the enemy, then immediately following with a strong attack of a martial style before the timer runs out. This makes most enemies explode instantly with a 100% chance of dropping a power-up.

SolidSnakesBandana
Jul 1, 2007

Infinite ammo

-A69- posted:

for the record, you know you don't have to pick the same class when you import from ME1 right?

Yeah but I wanted to hack things. What I'm saying is I didn't realize that everyone could hack just as easily since I never played any other class and assumed that you needed to have tech skills to hack.

I can't be the only one that did this. I always play rogue-type characters in RPGs so I can get all the talky options and unlock poo poo, I don't even really think twice about it.

Gerblyn
Apr 4, 2007

"TO BATTLE!"
Fun Shoe

Soul Glo posted:

Thanks. Anybody got info on Ninja Gaiden 2 that might make it less apt to send a controller through my Xbox?

There's a special move you can do to execute an opponent once you've removed one of their limbs, you want to do this as frequently as possible since you're completely invulnerable while doing it. Also, when you kill the turtle, block immediately.

Celebrity Ghost
Sep 26, 2007

Comic posted:

I know it doesn't get much love but I'm thinking to try Jade Empire up. Are there any graphical mods or anything that I should really get before playing it? Anything else too since I'm going to be going in blind, thought I'd finally try it out after having it in my Steam library forever untouched.

Don't spend your money on anything but the Storm Dragon style. Towards the end of the game, you can get some hefty stat upgrades for a ludicrous amount of money. It really doesn't make a big difference (it's only +10 to a single stat), but it is useful to know that all the best gems and passive stat boosts are found anyway.

Commit fully to being a good guy or a bad guy, it affects what styles you learn and their relative strength. Unlike other Bioware games, being evil felt unsatisfying but that's just an opinion.

You won't have enough leveling points to play around so if you spend any points in a style, commit to it. It might be useful to look up a style guide just to plan this, though as a general guideline, your starting martial style is the only one you get for a while, Storm Dragon is the best support style, if not completely overpowered.

If you're a dude you can get a threesome, if you're a chick you can be a lesbian.

Dirk Digglet
Aug 17, 2009

When I close my eyes, I see this thing, a sign, I see this name in bright blue neon lights with a purple outline

Soul Glo posted:

Thanks. Anybody got info on Ninja Gaiden 2 that might make it less apt to send a controller through my Xbox?

If for some reason you've taken the claws off, put them back on. They allow you to do this...

Flying swallow + X + Y = congratulations, you have just performed the strongest move in the game. enjoy seeing it a billion times because when your back is to the wall this will be your go-to for clearing a room! dash, slash, y button. dash, slash, y button.

Evil Eagle
Nov 5, 2009

...of SCIENCE! posted:

One of the characters you meet is a European explorer with a gun, after doing a sidequest for him he offers you several rewards you can choose from, one of which is his gun. This isn't a joke response, you can actually get his gun! It's slow but ridiculously powerful, leveled-up it can one-shot some of the most powerful enemies in the game if you can make it through the two-second animation of loading and aiming. Plus it's just :krad: to wander around ancient china with a bigass gun.

I knew I wasn't the only one who did this. Once I got the gun I never used anything else and my cousin got so mad at me for killing the final boss in a few seconds after he spent an entire week on it. Mirabelle for life.

Chinaman7000
Nov 28, 2003

This thread makes me desperately want a wiki site with spoiler free tips for every game. Basically all of the useful info from here, but organized and searchable. I was going to ask for FFT on the PSX, but I saw the first pages provided plenty.

What about FF3/6 on the SNES? I'm sure it was also covered, but impossible to find now.

Ratatozsk
Mar 6, 2007

Had we turned left instead, we may have encountered something like this...

Chinaman7000 posted:

This thread makes me desperately want a wiki site with spoiler free tips for every game. Basically all of the useful info from here, but organized and searchable. I was going to ask for FFT on the PSX, but I saw the first pages provided plenty.

What about FF3/6 on the SNES? I'm sure it was also covered, but impossible to find now.

Well, this thread does have a wiki, but some bits may be spoilerish for this game. While the game does have a plot, there aren't exactly any big twists you need to hide from.

There are only three moments that I can think of where you permanently miss an opportunity or close off access to things.

For Mog #1: If you choose to rescue Lone Wolf rather than Mog, you get a Golden Hairpin Relic (1/2 MP spent) but lose the chance to use Mog in the World of Balance and therefore lose the chance to get one dance.

For Mog #2: That dance in particular can only be gotten before completing the Floating Continent. Take Mog on a run through either of the aquatic sections to pick up Water Rondo. In the GBA remake, there are chances to get this dance later.

When you're asked to leave or wait, wait. Always wait.

Lets Fuck Bro
Apr 14, 2009

Chinaman7000 posted:

This thread makes me desperately want a wiki site with spoiler free tips for every game. Basically all of the useful info from here, but organized and searchable. I was going to ask for FFT on the PSX, but I saw the first pages provided plenty.

What about FF3/6 on the SNES? I'm sure it was also covered, but impossible to find now.
When Banon asks you if you want to help his cause, say no repeatedly, even though the obvious answer is yes.

Sabin's Blitzes might be a little confusing to use. Select Blitz with A, input the appropriate key combination, and then press A again.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Zushio
May 8, 2008

Ainsley McTree posted:

You can do counter attacks with the hidden blade for an instant kill. It's riskier though, because you can't block and the window for success seems to be smaller.

That's for AC1; in Assassin's creed 2 it's less risky, because you can block with it.

I found this out really late, but used it to kill the last 3 bosses on their very first attack against me. It kills everything in one hit if you can get it down, with a little practice you should be able to in no time.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply