What Are You Playing This Weekend? (And Beyond!)

I’m off to San Francisco for GDC on Sunday. I’ll be writing, filming, and editing for SlideToPlay/Padvance, so feel free to update any changes to what you’re playing throughout the week. As for me, I’ve been doubling my Final Fantasy pleasure and will continue to do so until I leave. Of course I’m still enjoying Final Fantasy XIII-2. I reached the last chapter 15 gameplay hours ago; now I’m just running around space and time, collecting items to develop my monsters.

Earlier in the week, I started Final Fantasy Tactics for iPad. The original PlayStation version is my favorite game of all time. It’s frickin’ brilliant that my all-time favorite game now lives on my iPad 2! So far, it doesn’t have the performance issues that plagued the iPhone version. That said, I haven’t had any huge battles with lots of summons yet. The controls definitely feel weird after playing hundreds of hours of the game on the PlayStation and PlayStation Portable. It took me about four hours to get accustomed to controlling FFT with a touchscreen and I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it completely. It’s not a big deal though. The gameplay, art style, and music completely rule!

How about you? What’s on your weekend playlist (and beyond!)?

Author: RPadTV

https://rpad.tv

54 thoughts on “What Are You Playing This Weekend? (And Beyond!)”

      1. I can help you with that goal if you want. Look at the list of games I have played and let me know which ones I can help you out in. I own all my games, so I have everything on my list.

        If we play co-op in games like Splinter Cell: Conviction, Halo: ODST, Resident Evil 5, or Gears of War, I think you'll be able to reach 200-300 points in a relatively short amount of time.

        For example, if we play through Gears of War together on Hardcore, I can help you get over 200 points. In Splinter Cell, I can help you get around 100 points in a moderate amount of time. For Halo 3 and Halo ODST, I pormise you over 300 and 200 points respecively for going through the game with me on Heroic. If we play Resident Evil 5 on normal, I can get you over 210 points for getting to the end.

        I know you probably do not like a lot of the games I've mentioned, but if you really want those points without spending more cash, then this is the best I can do for you. I am pretty good at the games I've mentioned and I'll do most of the heavy lifing.

        -M

      5. You guys should do some co-op together in Splinter Cell. To get a few achievements, you'd have to do all the maps in Face-off, go through the Hunter maps together (preferably on realistic difficulty, although it gets kind of hard at the end there), and do all waves on one Last Stand map (preferably Russian Embasy 1 or Mozdok Grounds 1). Don’t do last stand master because it takes too long and will die many, many times. You can glitch this achievement offline by starting at wave 15 for each map, but it’s still a pain even though you don’t have to do all the waves. The last ones are the hardest, anyway.

        Lastly, try to do the co-op campaign on realistic. There really are only one or two hard parts. The rest is relatively easy. The first hard part is the entrance to the Russian embassy where you are not allowed to kill anyone and have to make your way into the embassy undetected. Bsukenyan and I finally got it after several failed attempts. There is also the pain-in-the-ass part of defending against endless waves of enemies while waiting for the rescue helicopter on a roof… and worse: actually trying to get into the helicopter. Aside from that, the last level is a bit of a bitch, but nothing a little trial-and-error won't solve.

        Good luck. I’ll be around if either of you suck too much. ;)

        -M

      6. I'm going to have to put in some overtime tonight or tomorrow morning, my free weekend is turning out to be not so free. I did manage to get 40 points in about an hour of play in Family Game Night 3.

      7. I'm going to be playing a lot of single player too, like my forgotten favorite Bayonetta :-)

      8. I think I can help you out with this. Read this to locate the Alfheim portals and tips on how to beat the challenges: http://www.gamefaqs.com/xbox360/946346-bayonetta/…

        Next, to beat the game on hard and/or climax difficulty, you're going to want the Climax Bracelet. That thing turns you into a one-woman walking tank. There's a secret to get it in Stage 2, Verse 3. Right after the scene where Luka is introduced, you'll be in a plaza with some pay phones. Go to the two pay phones that are together by the stairs and stand directly in front of the one on the right. Enter: Up, Up, Up, Up, Down, Down, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, RT (you have to use the D-Pad for the directional inputs). Obviously, you can't be fighting while doing this and you will probably have to do it multiple times to get it right. I tried it like 20 times before I finally unlocked it. Also, you will need 5 million halos to buy it. You'll know you've unlocked the accessory when you see that the 5 million halos have been deducted from your total amount of halos.

        Good luck!

        -M

      9. This is awesome! I checked your achievements for it now I want to plath it even more.

  2. Ray, have you, or any of your friends, played the new game Journey?

    It's the third game from Thatgamecompany, which did Flow and flower? Really tempted to buy it, i just need a little push. Metascore 92

  3. SWTOR and SSX. Really liking SSX, but I find it's got some pretty glaring issues with the in-game store (it makes no sense).

    Obviously, I will be standing in line on Monday night for Mass Effect 3, and then playing it until my fingers bleed.

  4. I'm probably going to play Halo Reach until I decide what game to tackle next. I want to get Halo CE Anniversary out of the way first, but I would have to wait until my original Halo partner passes his MCAT to play with him. I could always play with the wife, but strafing and looking around at the same time is not her strong suite. Then I have to make time for L.A. Noire and Gears of War 3 which will probably take up more time than I have.

    Ahh, decisions, decisions.

    -M

      2. A few of my friends got it. So until something else comes along I'll stick with it!Sent from my iPhone 4

      3. I was the only one of my friends that got it. I was trapped with the online community, that spends far too much time practicing their fighting games compared to me. It's like they train 8 hours a day BEFORE hopping online to kick my ass. I enjoy a good fighting game from a casual perspective, not a hardcore one.

      4. This is the reason why I've pretty much sworn off fighting games. It just seems like I can't find anyone on my level.

        I guess I need to befriend more 4-year-olds that are allowed to play Street Fighter or something.

        -M

    2. I need to get another copy of Halo Reach so I can get the new achievements that have come out since I traded my copy. Then once I get those achievements I'll probably try to get the Halo CE Anniversary until Halo 4 comes out at the end of this year. Basically I want to play more Halo because I miss it.

      1. Ugh… If I were you, I wouldn't bother with the new achievements. Some of them are damn near impossible to get because they require a specific game mode and/or a specific map (from Noble or Defiant map packs). Then, once the game and map come up, everyone has to vote on it. Then, when everyone votes on it, you have to actually carry out the near-impossible achievement like "You Ate All the Chips" and "Don't Touch That" which are map and game specific. I don't know about now, but I remember that when I was going for a few of these last year, the Stockpile game rarely came up and when it did, nobody voted on it. I had to get a group of guys specifically looking for the achievement to just vote on the map and game when it came up. I spent like one whole week just trying to get a stockpile game going. That's like six months in daddy time.

        Others like "From Hell''s Heart" and "Paper Beats Rock" are 100% luck-based and very rarely happen in an actual game. The rest aren't that bad, but require some skill and a little luck.

        Let me know if you get Halo Anniversary. I am probably going to go through a play-through with my wife (if she can get the hang of it), but I am trying to urge my original Halo partner to buy the game so we can relive old times. Short of that, I would need an experienced player to go through the game on legendary… like you.

        -M

      2. Well you might have convinced me to not go back to Halo Reach and just go directly to Halo CE (the cheaper route anyways), but I didn't find the last 400 GS in Reach to be too difficult and I really really want to finally have a Halo game that I've completed all the way (Since that didn't happen with ODST, not gonna spend the time with Wars, not good enough at the meta scores in Halo 3, and Halo 2 on PC doesn't have live servers anymore so the MP achievements are out).

        I could simply keep up with Halo CE and start there, but I kept up with Reach so why stop now? It would give me more time for other games though, and if I got Arkham City thanks to Thundercrackers tip on purchasing the Gamer magazine as well then more time is what I would need. Either way I will let you know once I get Halo CE, as I would also enjoy playing through the game with more people.

        ps- glad to know I fit the bill of an experienced Halo player for legendary playing.

      3. Anyone who can beat Reach on legendary by themselves is an experienced player in my opinion. That takes dedication and skill.

        If you are going to buy Halo Anniversary new, then by all means, try the new (old, actually) maps, just be aware that some of those achievements are pretty rediculous. Also, the anniversary map pack is not worth $15 in my opinion (if you buy it seperatly over XBL). The defiant and noble maps are another $10 each. That's $35 for six old maps and six new ones. Just to put things into perspective; I recently bought Portal 2, Halo Anniversary, and L.A. Noire: The Complete Edition all brand new for under $30 each. I find that disparity in value to be insane.

        Believe it or not, the meta-game in each of the Halo 3 levels aren't that bad. All you have to do is play on Heroic and turn a few skulls on and you'll get tons and tons of points. I can play with you and be your bullet sponge while you mop up the points if you want. The hardest Halo 3 achievement is the Vidmaster Challenge: Annual by far since you have to team up with three other amazing players and not die on legendary.

        As far as ODST goes, I will go through the game with you on legendary if you want. That will get you four or five achievements unlocked (Campaign Complete Heroic, Legendary, Naughty Naughty, Headcase, and Vidmaster Classic). The fire fight acheivements can be done with relative ease (although it will take a while) if you can get two other people to play in the fire fight maps with us. Vidmaster Endure and Dejavu are the real pain-in-the-arse ones. Those you will need three skilled players that are very good.

        Lastly, if you are planning to complete Arkham City, I suggest you get very, VERY comfortable with playing the Riddler's Revenge challenge maps (think Joker's combat and predator challenge maps from AA) as you will have to earn 180 medals across 60 map challenges, yet there are only 6 different maps for combat and 6 for predator. Needless to say that you will be getting incredibly familiarized with these 12 maps. Oh, yeah, and you have to do them all with Batman, Catwoman, Robin, and Nightwing. That means you'll be playing each map about 8 times with each character (two extra for Robin and Nightwing, of course) for a grand total of 672 medals across 12 different maps.

        Have fun!

        -M

  6. I'm living in Gamer Heaven right now. TechOlympics 2012 in Cincinnati is huge! Mario Kart, FIFA 11, Madden 11, Wii Sports, Smash Bros, ping pong, foosball, air hockey, coding lessons, a "Windows Device Bar", and an entire weekend with over 600 fellow gamers and techies! Plus, I can log some more time on BlazBlue while I'm waiting for some events to start!

    1. You're from Cinci!!!!

      That's the sister city to my native Pittsburgh.

      Great people up there (but the Bengals still suck).

      1. Why yes, I am! And while I don’t know much about my sister city, I do know one thing – your Bengals statement is completely and utterly correct.

      2. Well, one other thing: apparently, Pittsburgh is on the top 10 list of places to retire.

  7. Public service announcement

    If you buy the gamer magazine from best buy, this week you can purchase batman arkham city for 10 bucks, mass effect 2 for 5 bucks and rage for 5 bucks

    Ill be getting all 3.

    1. yep…got arkham city for 10 bucks, rage for 5 and skyrim for 15. Im such a cheap bastard

      1. Good for you. I thought I was cheap. You just put me to shame. My only recommendation would be to play Arkham Asylum before you play Arkham City (if you haven't done so already) since AC is a direct continuation of AA.

        -M

    2. How much is the gamer magazine?? I am also supposed to have a $10 gift certificate to best buy so this could really work out in my favor.

  8. magazine is 5 bucks per issue, or 15 bucks for the 10 issue subscription.

    this months coupons are:

    15 $ off FF XIII-2
    20 $ off arkham city
    15 $ off of rage
    15 $ off Mass Effect 2
    15 $ off Bulletstorm
    10 off any preowned game 20 bucks or higher
    15 $ off xbox or ps3 airflow controller
    30 $ off turtle beach px3 headset

    Like i said earlier.,,,this makes Arkham city 10 $, and Mass effect, bulletstorm and rage 5$ a piece. Even the store associate was amazed at the deal i got.

    I said before that i got skyrim for 15, thats because i had a gift card.

    1. can you get the coupons by just purchasing one issue at $5? I don't really want the magazine, just the deals.

      2. I got Batman Arkham City today for the price of the magazine only. I had a $10 reward zone coupon from best buy apparently that I just happened to get emailed earlier this week. I'm tempted to just get a couple other games for cheap just for the purpose of getting more trade in value for the game than what I paid (mass effect 2, rage, and bulletstorm possibly). I'm pretty stoked to get this game for $5 total though considering it was $60 last week when I wanted it.

      3. glad i could help dude.

        I got rage and bulletstorm, even though i have no desire to play either. I was unable to find a copy of Mass Effect 2 though…

      4. I might go back and pick them up if they are still on some sort of sale this week. I figure they might be worth more in trade value than I would pay for them. If this is a regular thing then I will have to check out the magazine more often.

      5. I better see your name above mine and N8's on the leaderboards of those challenge maps.

        Learn how to fight well. Don't mash the X button. Just press it once per each hit on a bad guy. Also, spam the evade jump (A,A) like there's no tomorrow.

        -M

  9. My weekend was busy so I'm making my previous goal of 200-300 gamer points this weeks goal. I'm at 65.

  10. SSX is okay. Played it for a bit, but maybe I am just too old but it seemed too fast and tough, All of the tricks felt like a frantic button mash. I never figured out how to jump logs without wiping out. It lets you skip tracks but it appears you have to go back and beat it anyway, so I don't see the point. Again MP is locked by requiring an access code

    Mass Effect 3. I was kind of optimistic and not *mostly because I hated 1&2). Fired up the game and it asks how I prefer to play Action, RPG, or Story. So I picked action, and it does all of the dialogue parts for you. If Action was action I couldn't imagine the other modes. Story started and it wouldn't let me skip it. In some parts you can hit Square and FFW a bit. The story seems dumb to me, but since I haven't followed the others and seemed to be heavily tied together, this game just didn't want me playing it. Not quite sure what the point of me staring at the back of Shepard's head is, but it gets old. The Cinematics are horrible to watch, they lag and glitch constantly. Of the 5 guns I had they all appeared to do the same amount of damage. I kept picking up armor and weapon mods, but there doesn't seem to be a way to apply them. Also I was told to upgrade my team, but everything takes "points" and I had none and had already leveled to level 8. The final nail in this one was an exceptionally long cut-scene. I left the house for 20 minutes and it was still going on when I return. Then I was in a large city without direction so I powered down and return it for a refund.

    1. Somebody needs to pay you to do "professional" reviews of games. I would be more than happy to pitch in for sponsorship.

      As I type this, there are nine people on my friends list that are online and N8 is the only one NOT playing Mass Effect 3. Crazy.

      -M

      1. I decided a while back to NEVER do what you like professionally. You end up hating it.

      5. Turns out, the porn that I don't like pays alot more.

        But I don't thing the equipment would work if I try to swing that way. I would need alot of Viagra and heroin.

  11. So, last weekend I sustained a minor concussion and was told I should rest. Rest = 16-hour Minecraft marathons for me, so I’ve pretty much only played that for the last week. I finally got onto a friend’s server and set up Skype, so it hasn’t been all that bad.

    Oh yeah, and I also got Motorstorm RC for free earlier this week on the Vita, so I played around with that a bit.

Comments are closed.