How is Shovel Knight gbaz69?
I too keep neglecting my console rpgs I also need to finish Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. It is a great and very pretty game from what i've played. Sadly I do feel as though it is super slow going in the beginning though.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll try to split my games between:
beating indie game (or a smaller quicker game)
then beating a AAA game (or a longer game/rpg)
back to beating an indie game
and so on, and so on

I ended up starting "The Last Remnant" so far its pretty good. (only 20 minutes in)

Shovel Knight is a great homage to classic console action platformers.
Game is pretty short, but it is quality for sure.
Though the price is a little high for my opinion.
(one of my few impulse purchases this past week. Did not spend one cent past few months, only acquired stuff via trading and selling cards....... sold off around 2,000 cards... listing cards SUCKS!!! so tedious)

Saints row 4

I made it through that tunnel with the space ship [at last] don't know if the game got a nerf, I couldn't barrel roll [space bar] or speed up [shift] the part where the walls close in, I just aimed for the top and just about made it. HAPPY

Also playing 'book of unwritten tales' but stuck getting the tophat and the rabbit. No spoilers please, I will fathom it one day......

Started playing Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. It passes the time well enough but... I just don't think the whole "spectacle fighter" genre is for me. I get tired of them all pretty quickly and they never really amaze me.

Edit: Anyone who plays this game should read this: http://kotaku.com/5985395/metal-gear-rising-does-a-terrible-job-of-telling-you-how-to-play-here-are-some-tips

The Blade Wolf boss is next to impossible without a bunch of that information. My god that was a tough fight.

Two Worlds. One thing I'm noticing is that there doesn't actually seem to be that many quests in the game, it feels like every city/village/town only offers three or four quests (at the most). Maybe it's nostalgia but I seem to recall the Gothics, Risen and The Elder Scrolls games all offering far far more.

That's not to say that the quests are bad, a lot of them are by the books generic stuff but there are some really cool ones too. I especially enjoyed the intertwining quests involving the tomb of a king. On a related note my favorite quest givers are the necromancers, the quests they give aren't anything to write home about but they're probably the most entertaining characters in the game save for the main character himself.

With the huge amount of in-game loot (I'm 15 hours into the game and still encountering new loot on a really regular basis) my Stats Matter More Than Style style(tm) armor selection often makes the main character seem like a keyboard player for an early 80s rock band. Grey boots, silver pants, gold chest piece, grey gloves and a red helmet? Ah, that's the sight of a high defense rating. Laugh all you want but I'm pretty sure he can survive everything but a direct hit from a meteor right now. Give me a pair of pants with a higher defense rating and I'm sure he could survive that too.

I've still yet to do another main quest related quest. I'm sure the main character's sister appreciates that fact.

Played some more Sonic racing. Also, just got The Long Dark. Played twice so far. Both times I was eaten by a wolf. Damn them, as I have yet to find a weapon to deal with them.

Other things the article didn't touch upon (at least glancing at it):

-You can avoid resetting your current combo by using the dodge move while in the middle of it (similar to Dodge Offset in Bayonetta, only difference is that you don't have to hold down your current attack button while dodging).

-You can also cancel out of certain recovery animations of certain attacks with the dodge move or blade mode cancelling (entering and exiting blade mode at a fast rate).

-Stealth (which is the worst part of the game) is only line of sight. Sound doesn't really seem to make that much of a difference (at least from my experience).

-Which direction you parry an oncoming attack is relative to where the camera is. Also, you have to parry every incoming attack (so if you haven't got parrying down, the Monsoon boss fight will be next to impossible).

-You can go for no damage and non-lethal kills in battles for more points and getting S ranks if you suck in certain categories (time, combo count, Zandatsu count, etc.).

Other than that, it's a Platinum game. It does a shit job telling you stuff outside of basic controls and where to go. Still love it though.

Currently playing Far Cry. Finding the AI to be remarkable smart at times in close quarters.

playing darkspore.

This is the part that's killing me. I just haven't quite got it yet. Some combination of the following:

- I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be parrying relative to the camera or relative to the direction Raiden is facing. I was thinking it was relative to Raiden but I'll try it from the camera's perspective as you've suggested.
- Timing. I just tend to mash the key and hope for the best because I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be parrying during their attack animation, or pre-empting it.
- I'm not even really sure which attacks can and can't be parried. Only the ones where you get the red lines can be parried, is what I'm assuming. The others are just "get out of the way" type attacks.

Shadowrun ftw!
Did you play Returns?

Ratchet and Clank 3 Up your arsenal

If you had to pick one of the shadow runs jdsgn which would you suggest Returns or Dragonfall?

Woah, good question. I have not finished Dragonfall yet, but so far, it looks good. I think the beginning of Returns is superior, but towards the end, it gets a bit too freaky. So, I'd rather go with Dragonfall. Yep.

Thanks for the advice and happy new year :)