Weekly Console Gaming Blog: Mega Man Marathon, Disgaea D2 · 5:08am Jun 10th, 2016
Welcome to my Console Gaming Blog!
This week, I started a new game of Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness and began my Mega Man Mega Marathon in earnest. I didn't put any play time into Ni no Kuni this week, but I haven't abandoned it. It just hasn't been a good week for it.
Also, since it's been a while since I updated the list of games installed on my PS3, I'm dumping the full list into this week's blog. (New this week: Siren: Blood Curse, one of June's PS+ freebies, and Megaman Legends 2, which is on sale for two and a half bucks right now--more than worth the convenience of not having to hunt down my PS1 copy.)
I also bought White Knight Chronicles II used from Gamestop (pretty cheap--cheaper than eBay actually). WKC2 contains the entire first game, so it's two games for the price of one. The only downside is that the online servers for it shut down three years ago. But the solo game still has over 100 hours of content in each game, so I'd call it money well spent. I know the game has mixed reviews, but...well...it's a Level-5 game, so I gotta have it. (And one of these days, I'll get the Professor Layton games...)
Mega Man Mega Marathon
With the spare XBox 360 controller Zef sent me having arrived on Monday, I decided to start with the Mega Man Legacy Collection (the original six NES games) on Steam after all, and play the series in order, which means 1-7, MM&B, 8-10...and concluding with the Capcom-approved fan game Mega Man X Street Fighter!
Legacy Collection lets you play either Rockman or Mega Man. It's nice to have that option.
On Monday, I beat the very first Rockman in a little under four hours, with frequent breaks for resting hands, offline stuff, and quick web browsing. I only had to check a strategy guide once to find the best strategy for Wily Machine #1, and then only because my reflexes have so severely dulled since I originally beat this game 28 years ago that the strategy I was employing failed because I couldn't dodge Wily's shots properly.
(The fatal flaw in my strategy: I had no idea the first form's weakness was Fire Man's weapon. I was using the Rolling Cutter.)
On Tuesday I began my playthrough of Megaman 2 (not Rockman 2), having discovered that the Japanese versions of the games in the Legacy Collection are in fact actually in Japanese beyond Rockman 1. 
Yeah. I can read a LITTLE Japanese, but...not enough for video game cutscenes, as few as there are in the NES Rockman games. Sad...I had hoped that they were English-translated faithful renditions of the Rockman games, not direct ports with the Japanese text. Oh well! Probably for the best, since Rockman 2 JP is hella hard. In around half an hour, I steamrolled Metal Man, Flash Man, and Quick Man (Quick Man's stage gave me some trouble because I had forgotten about those goddamn annoying killbeams and also I had forgotten that the only way to survive that section is the Time Stopper--which I already had because I thought it was Quick Man's weakness. In my defense, it's been 25 years.) Later in the evening, I ran over the rest of the Robot Masters, then crushed Wily's Skull Castle.
I will confess, however, to abusing the HELL out of the MMLC's built-in save states. As badly as my skills have atrophied, I need the handicap. (God help me when I play MM8-MM10... X_X)
Thursday evening, I started Megaman 3. I beat Top Man. And got creamed by every other Robot Master I went up against (Hard Man, Snake Man, Needle Man -- have I mentioned it has been an INCREDIBLY long time?) I cheated on the web and found out I need to go after Shadow Man next.
Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness
Recently, a friend's enthusiasm for Disgaea reminded me that I sort of started this game and...didn't do much with it. After checking my savefile and seeing I'd only logged two hours, I decided to just restart it.
I don't know what it is with me and the Disgaea franchise. I love the hell out of these games, their quirky humor, their graphical style, and so forth, but I always end up...just not making much headway in them. I've actually beaten the original once, but didn't get the best ending, and I'm a long-ass way from the game's historic epic level caps on ANY play attempt.
Let's see what I can do with D2 if I play it for a couple hours or so a day...
Not going into a detailed plot breakdown. If you want that, you can just look on Youtube. Don't spoil anything for me, though! Please. ^^;;
As for my party, and keep in mind that I'm just starting the game:
Story characters: Laharl, Etna, Flonne (weapons: swords, spears, bows -- duh)
Party characters:
Midori (Lady Fighter) (weapon: swords)
Mikuru (Wind Spinner) (weapon: fists)
Yashiru (Thief) (weapon: guns)
Hikaru (Red Mage) (element: fire) (weapon: staff)
Umi (Red Mage) (element: ice) (weapon: staff)
Fuu (Red Mage) (element: wind) (weapon: staff)
Yui (Healer) (weapon: staff)
Zelgadis (Red Skull (element: wind) (weapon: books)
Hiroto (Fighter) (weapon: axes)
Inuyasha (Fury Fatalist) (weapon: fists)
Ascot (Heretic) (weapon: books)
Homo Erectus (Prinny) (initial spawn)
Ready to Fight (Prinny) (initial spawn)
List of games currently installed on Moth's PS3
Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon because I DON'T KNOW!
Back to the Future (the complete game)
Bejeweled 3
Beyond Good & Evil HD
Bionic Commando ReArmed 2
Braid
Breath of Fire 4
Capcom vs. SNK: Mark of the Millennium 2001
CastleStorm
Catherine
The Cave
Dead or Alive 5 Last Round
Disgaea D2
Dishonored
DuckTales Remastered
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remastered
God of War: Ascension
Godzilla
Guacamelee!
Harvest Moon: Back to Nature
J-STARS Victory VS+
The Last of Us
Legend of Dragoon
LocoRoco Cocoreccho!
Mass Effect 2
Megaman 8
Megaman 9
Megaman 10
Megaman X4
Megaman X5
Megaman Legends 2
Mirror's Edge
Mortal Kombat 9
Odin Sphere
Okami HD
Persona 4 Arena
Persona 4 Arena Ultimax
Portal 2
Psychonauts
Q*bert: Rebooted
Race the Sun
Retro City Rampage
Siren: Blood Curse
Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
Suikoden II
Tales of Monkey Island (the complete game)
Tokyo Jungle
Twisted Metal
The Wolf Among Us
Worms 2: Armageddon
Worms Revolution
Disgaea D2 was an AWESOME game dood!
I've never really understood why WKC got so many mixed reviews. The game let's you control a giant magitech mecha, what more do you want!?
While I'll admit that the story isn't revolutionary, I found it to still be pretty good and it did offer a few surprising twists.
Ah, Shattered Dimensions. My favourite Spider-Man game.
I fucking love Bionic Commando. I've got the original on my 3ds.
Ah Disgaea. Currently following an LP in progress of D2 so we're both finally getting to experience it.
I thought MM&B came after 8?
4012949 it actually came out around the same time for the Super Nintendo...
4013203 In Japan, it was released on the SNES or Super Famicom a year after MM8 and reused a lot of assets from 8 (for example Magic Man's stage borrows a lot of things from Clown Man's stage), and brought back two robot masters from 8 (Tengu Man and Astro Man). In the U.S., it was not released until 2002 on the GBA.