FunkyFox

@AlexW00d said:

People will say Black Isle.

And these people are correct.

This person. This person is right.

I'm a far larger A Song of Ice and Fire fan than I am Mass Effect fan, but probably both. Already have Game of Thrones on pre-order, so it's just a matter if I want to play through ME1/2 one last time before I get 3.

5 days and 13 hours. Just finished it.

Yeah, a bit. I usually just quit for a day or so and then come back. Only level 45, though, so maybe once you hit cap and the drive to level is gone, playing isn't as fun.

What level are you? I had this problem constantly (pulling aggro part, not the dying part- I usually had a ton of defensive cooldowns to pour when this happened) until about 35ish when tanks suddenly started improving. Hell, on Hoth I had a tank that I'm pretty sure I'd have not peeled from even if I tried (well, I did a couple of times, when I didn't have Guard on me for some reason). I think it has to do with when tanks get the abilities they need combined with a lot of players not knowing their class that well for a bit.

And don't AoE. Burn a target at a time and try to get your tank to mark stuff. World of improvement.

@Seppli: Not interested in doing any PVP on this character at the moment. Maybe in 6 levels when I'm 50 and if content is low enough, though I'd be just as likely to roll an Agent for that and only pursue the class story on it.

Basically, I feel pretty good about the gear. Quinn hadn't had an upgrade since roughly Tatooine when I got to Belsavin and I still managed it just fine, including soloing heroics. Upgrading companion and character are both viable from what I've seen, varying depending on how well your class scales with gear (from what I've seen, Marauder does quite well here).

@Seppli: I'm not overleveled at all. I also solo some group quests from time to time. It just isn't that hard. Keep in mind Marauders dual-wield lightsabers so keeping weapon damage up-to-date is a huge DPS-spike.

I don't PvP at all and when I get bored of a planet I leave (usually around the time I do class stuff). I don't do a planet to exhaustion as that's not fun, IMO, so my level usually reflects the lower-end of the level you should be on a planet. Until I leave, when it's on the higher-end.

As a Marauder I basically ignore my companions. Quinn gets quest rewards and that's about it- everything else is sold, or if it's not a significant upgrade for him, I grab a planet commendation. I've not really seen a major reason to do so yet; can still solo pretty much anything I want to at a very fast speed. I've considered upgrading one of my tanking companions, though, just to see if they can hold aggro.

1-5 for one set of skills, shift+number for another set. I click the rest which are mainly defensive cooldowns or buffs of some sort. I tend to keep stuff I click on the side-bar, though (right one) for easier access.

Just got Annihilate and had to do some moving around. It feels really, really weird after going from like 20 to 43 with basically the exact same rotation.

Meh, this is a long post 'cuz I decided to list some thoughts on each game. Sorry about that. I probably didn't list a couple of the ones I played.

The Great:

1. Final Fantasy Tactics- Awesome game. Great gameplay, great story, great characters. Poor localization, but that's been fixed. Easter eggs and hidden characters (including Cloud from FF7 as a recruitable character). Just a great game all around.

2. Final Fantasy VI- This, and IV, are both battling each other for this spot. I have to give it to VI, though, for the greater degree of customization of character abilities while still maintaining each character's abilities as somewhat unique. Not to mention the sheer number of party members you get eventually. The story is also pretty awesome and features Kefka.

3. Final Fantasy IV- First SNES era Final Fantasy I played. Cecil is the protagonist of all the Final Fantasy games I've played. It's also one of the more difficult games, with no party customizing, period (disregarding the SNES version of the game being, basically, easy-mode of the Japanese version for some reason). The game also has one of the best stories featured in a Final Fantasy game and you can see a lot of what makes Final Fantasy VI great being developed in Final Fantasy IV.

4. Final Fantasy IX- This game gets hated on a lot for it's art style but, get past that, and it's a gem. Difficult compared to it's PS-era predecessors, generally better writing, and just a fun adventured without massive melodrama every five minutes make this deserving of number 4.

5. Final Fantasy X- A classic of the series with great mechanics that flowed well and an interesting story. Poor voice-acting notwithstanding (and no one ever laughed in this game. It never happened) the story and music are what makes this game special. This is the game that Final Fantasy XIII clearly tried to mirror, not really succeeding, but not entirely failing either. The only major fault with the game is its ease- the summoning system, while something I want to see return again, makes the entire game a cake-walk... now I'm going to go replay it, or IX. Or Tactics.

That Average-

6. Final Fantasy VIII- This game is insane, but for some reason I've probably played it more than the other games. I'm not sure why- the junctioning system? The drawing system? Gunblades? All of these have been criticized as missteps and, frankly, I have to agree. At the same time, something about the story structure and the most memorable CGI cut-scenes from the entire series makes the entire experience worth having. Besides, junctions weren't so bad and pretty easily understood if you took the time to figure it out.

7. Final Fantasy VII- A good game. A classic of the series and the first introduction of many. The Materia system felt like a reworked and not-quite-as-good Esper system from VI, and the story goes crazy towards the end (as did VIII's). Aeris' death shocked many and it was pretty cool how the game let you unlock her final Limit Break so early in the game. I don't have much negative to say about it beyond that it didn't really grab me- characters weren't interesting, mechanics were weak, etc. A perfectly good game.

8. Final Fantasy XIII- A flawed, but still enjoyable, game. Superior mechanics in battle are brought down by poor presentation of all the extra shit to do. Cieth aren't really an interesting way to collect quests and I never really enjoy it when I'm not allowed to progress in levels as much as I want when I want, via grinding. I may not choose to grind, but I'd like the option, so give the entire Crystarium when we get it, please. The story has a similar problem- interesting characters and scenario (among the best in Final Fantasy) marred by flawed execution (namely in how they handle exposition). As a game it feels very experimental and I must say I did, ultimately, enjoy my time with it and look forward to XIII-2 to see if they fixed the problems of the first.

The Not-So-Good-

9. Final Fantasy XII- Something about this game makes me unable to really complete it. I'm not sure what it is; it isn't bad, per se, but I don't find the characters appealing. The mechanics don't really interest me either.

10. Final Fantasy II- An interesting idea at the time for leveling up opens the game up for easy abuse. You do start to see the groundwork of future Final Fantasy games here, namely with the rebels fighting an evil empire. A game where I turned one character (on accident) into a 99% evasion with massive defense and a sword that worked better on strong enemies while stealing life. Yeah. Still, it's interesting to see the evolution of the games, so check it out if you're into that stuff.

11. Final Fantasy X-2- Interesting mechanics ruined by the departure in tone from the previous entry.

12. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest- Very different from other entries and not really in a good way.

13. Dirge of Cerberus- lol