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| Spoon 1937th Post 
 
Gold Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Executive
   
    
    
    
    
|  "Re(2):platformers time!" , posted Wed 28 Apr 12:12  
quote:
Will I really feel the same way about the title after six hours of concentrating on the shadows in the background?
There was an indie project in the works that had the EXACT SAME premise: that the shadows cast by light shone upon 3D objects would provide the surfaces for platforming. However, in their demo they allowed for the player to manipulate both the 3D environment as well as the shadow avatar, and the interface was kind of clunky.
To be honest, when I first heard about the concept for Echochrome, that's the way that I thought they were doing it: simply taking the 2D projection of the 3D scene, and then using that to form the collision boxes.
Anyway, it's a concept that allows for a lot of flexibility and creativity. At worst, think about Super Paper Mario or Crush and how the player can get around things in the 2D or 3D settings. In Shadow Tower, you will likely only be moving the player in the 2D setting, but pulling switches and junk could influence the world in a 3D way, and you have to reconcile how that manipulation maps back into 2D.
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| Toxico 4993th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
|  "Re(2):Keh!!!!!????" , posted Thu 29 Apr 16:17:
quote:
Did Skystage turn out to be a bigger hit than I thought it would be?
I don't think so... My theory is that, since the DS is about to be switched, their no budget releases on it are likely to be compromised if the next console brings too much to the market. So, they had to switch to psp (for a while(?)).
Also, if this game reuses the engine & animations from Sky Stage, as well as other features and stuffs then this game is likely to not be an expensive product; they are just trying to get more money from their Sky Stage work, har har.
....Now that I think about, if the first Sky Stage would have been a crazy Neo Geo characters game with a weird, random NGBC like cast, sponsored by Dr. Brown & with a bunch of ridicule stuff here and there akin to an "SNK Parodious"; it would have a complete thrill to play (Next Boss : Athena's bunny costume giant legs!!), and probably would have become my "these last 10 years best game" or something.
I don't care at all, but what the hell
The next arcadia cover need no presentation, I wonder if they'll unveil something "arcade exclusive".
EDIT :
Crossbone gundam seems to be getting some love in the latest Gundam Extreme Vs.
目に焼きつけて、死ぬがいい・・・
Update 21 as of 29/01/10 (Temporary mega upload link).
Now sponsoring : video game analogies (ES)
Last update : Chapter 16 as of 13/04/10
[this message was edited by Toxico on Fri 30 Apr 10:01] |
| KTallguy 1216th Post
PSN: Hunter-KT
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Red Carpet Executive Member
| "Re(4):Nier" , posted Thu 6 May 10:27:
quote:
Sorry for the late reply. It never really got weird like the first one. All the villains were crazy and the last boss fight was...interesting, but other than that, it was a little dark, but fairly down to earth.
I loved the artwork...combined with the voice cast (anything with Rolly in it is automatically good, no matter how much it sucks), I really got into it. Being able to use multiple characters was nice, too. Something I wish Nier had...
Yea, I think stories that go completely batshit insane are interesting (MGS2, Evangelion, for example). But I have to be invested in the characters for it to work.
About God of War 3, that game fascinates and frightens me at the same time. The game basically makes you into an asshole whether you like it or not. Consider these two parts of the demo on PSN:
1. There is a part where innocent people are running away from the ghouls chasing them. Try as I might, I found it nearly impossible NOT to avoid hitting the innocents with my chains. They have such a sweeping range, and the game doesn't encourage you to save them anyway.
2. There is part where you're inching along a thin ledge, but there is a guy standing by a window over a precipice. In this section you can also drop down to hang by your hands and cross. It makes sense that you could drop down and avoid touching the guy by crossing below him. However the game actually prevents you from crossing below him in this way. You actually have to hit a button to kill the innocent guy, no matter what.
In this way, I kind of feel like God of War 3 is approaching art more interesting then a lot of games. I'm forced to do something that makes me uncomfortable. The majority of people just think of it as another target, but the fact is that especially in that moment, you are Kratos, and Kratos kills indiscriminately. This actually gives the non-choice more impact that if I could save him and get some sort of "heaven points" to level up my "good" powers, which is what most games do nowadays when they deal with supposed moral choices.
Maybe I'm reading too much into it?
Play to win... or to have fun too! :)
[this message was edited by KTallguy on Thu 6 May 15:56] |
| karasu99 349th Post
PSN: robotchris
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Bronze Customer
| "Re(3):Re:Obligatory" , posted Fri 7 May 07:20
quote:
And for those avid Castlevania fans who don't know about it yet, I'd suggest Koumajou: Scarlet Symphony to satisfy their urges...
That box art is beautiful. Very Byzantine. Very inspired. It would be great if the latest Castlevania were as good as that packaging.
Hayato, thanks for pointing out Scarlet Symphony-- I had totally missed its release. Does it... um... get more interesting later on? The spritework is gorgeous, especially the protagonist, but the enemy density looks a little sparse. I will have to try and get it to work on my PC tonight, since it appears I need to reboot with JP language encoding set or something like that. If I had any time I would set up a separate Japanese Windows VM or something...
Nobinobita, it made me wish for more inspired Castlevania art direction as well. I used to silence my CV-critical friends by saying that at least the DS games have been enjoyable and somewhat varied, even if they do ultimately just rip off sprites from earlier games, and ReBirth was quite good, I thought, but you know, this newly announced multiplayer is just depressing-looking. Could it be that fan-made games are the real direction that the series needs to move in? I would totally be onboard to help in such an effort, but I have a sneaking suspicion that mere heartbeats would pass before Konami slapped such an endeavor with a cease-and-desist.
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| HAYATO 973th Post
Red Carpet Regular Member++
| "Re(4):Electronic Gaming not quite Monthly" , posted Tue 11 May 07:00
quote:
It's probably not a surprise to anyone but me but EGM has a new issue out. The sight of EGM -complete with Ryu on the cover- on the shelves made me feel like I had come across a fly trapped in amber.
Just hearing the name brings me back to a time when gaming mags covered games like Earthworm Jim, Doom, and a little Japanese game system called the "Play Station." Back then, people were talking about wanting a Street Fighter vs Mortal Kombat game (and people thinking that the MK cast would "win"). How far we have come.
That's exactly the same time period I associate EGM with!! 1995 and 1996, to be more exact. That's when, while being in Ireland on holidays, I had the chance to buy some issues, and thus they got etched in my mind forever. Oh, the memories...
Hey you remember that 300+ page issue with Mortal Kombat on the cover? The one that had an early preview of Chrono Trigger? Good times!
Sadly, the only one I remember ( because I still own it) is the one featuring "Batman Forever" on the cover. I wish I had kept other, more interesting issues but I couldn't find any other one. Tough luck, I guess, as I've heard many good things about the magazine along these years...
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| Burning Ranger 1654th Post
Tailored Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member
| "Re(5):Electronic Gaming not quite Monthly" , posted Sun 16 May 11:50
quote:
It's probably not a surprise to anyone but me but EGM has a new issue out. The sight of EGM -complete with Ryu on the cover- on the shelves made me feel like I had come across a fly trapped in amber.
Just hearing the name brings me back to a time when gaming mags covered games like Earthworm Jim, Doom, and a little Japanese game system called the "Play Station." Back then, people were talking about wanting a Street Fighter vs Mortal Kombat game (and people thinking that the MK cast would "win"). How far we have come.
That's exactly the same time period I associate EGM with!! 1995 and 1996, to be more exact. That's when, while being in Ireland on holidays, I had the chance to buy some issues, and thus they got etched in my mind forever. Oh, the memories...
Hey you remember that 300+ page issue with Mortal Kombat on the cover? The one that had an early preview of Chrono Trigger? Good times!
Sadly, the only one I remember ( because I still own it) is the one featuring "Batman Forever" on the cover. I wish I had kept other, more interesting issues but I couldn't find any other one. Tough luck, I guess, as I've heard many good things about the magazine along these years...
I also remember an issue that had a preview of Megaman 7. Another had a preview of a hot new game from Japan called Street Fighter Alpha 2, which introduced Sakura and brought back fan favorite Zangief with awesome anime-style animation.
So much to do so little time...
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| karasu99 358th Post
PSN: robotchris
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Silver Customer
| "Re(3):Nier" , posted Wed 19 May 13:43:
quote:
Keep me updated! :)
Happy to!
So far, I'm not loving it-- the fishing mini-game is crappily put together and frustrating (and seems to be required to move the story forward, at least as far as I can tell), the combat system is pretty miniscule, including the magic, and so far the side quests, which I had seen described as exciting and varied, are just glorified fetch quests without exception.
The two bosses I've fought were actually quite interesting, design-wise and battle-wise, but I don't know if that is enough to keep me playing.
EDIT: Removed some of my compliant since I discovered I was fishing in the wrong place. It's still rubbing me the wrong way though...
[this message was edited by karasu99 on Wed 19 May 14:01] |
| Pollyanna 2919th Post
PSN: Lilly_Dopamine
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Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(5):Nier" , posted Thu 20 May 14:40
quote:
There are like, 3 games that I'm interested in right now and I'm trying to decide if I should bite the bullet on any of them:
Red Dead Redemption
Lost Planet 2
And Nier.
I think that Nier has some cool stuff about it but I can't justify getting it if it takes too long to get to those bits.
I'm waiting for Nier to get cheaper. I know it will.
Lost Planet 2 is sloppy, but can be fun if you want to play online. If you're only interested in playing through the campaign in single player DO NOT BUY THE GAME. I had a reasonable amount of fun winning it alone, but it's just...not very well put together. The partner AI is bad, the game does a poor job of explaining what you should do, some things (like the grappling hook) just don't work right. There's a lot to unlock and it unlocks at a reasonable pace, but there's a poor balance to HOW you unlock it. Getting credits in particular is broken, resulting in a strong feeling of "grinding" if you want to get anything done. There's also not nearly enough motivation to play the game on hard (in terms of what awards you get), making playing with friends on tougher challenges much less appealing.
Still, I've been enjoying it enough. Even if it doesn't come together quite right, there are a lot of nice things about it and I like playing vs online.
I just got Red Dead Redemption today. It's not my type of game. I don't like open world stuff at all and I've never been into GTA. Still, I've been very impressed thus far. The environments are really believable and even if the frame rate goes all over the place and the animation is choppy here and there, the overall visual effect in the game is very strong. The more precise sense of aiming (rather than LP2's "go crazy with a machinegun or blow them away with explosions") may make for a good online vs experience, too.
It might be the best game out of the bunch, but it's too early for me to say.
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
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| KTallguy 1218th Post
PSN: Hunter-KT
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Red Carpet Executive Member
| "Re(6):Nier" , posted Thu 20 May 17:32
I'm partial to Capcom's "clunkyness", and I like their unique take on shooting games, as seen in that video I linked. But I heard all of those complaints, yea. It seems like a game that you have to really play so damn much to really go anywhere. The slot machine system seems particularly silly. I think I would like to team up with random people online, I hope that's not worse.
My friend is raving up a storm about Red Dead, and I enjoy GTA games but I almost never finish them because of ... stuff getting in the way. That's my only worry with the game.
Metal Gear Peace Walker is really THE game that I've been addicted to these past 3 weeks. Such an amazing game, basically Monster Hunter, with guns and crazy pseudo futuristic tools, without all the bullshit grinding over and over, with a great story and fun characters, with some really awesome and creative stealth sequences, with crazy boss encounters, etc etc etc. I can't stop singing the praises of this game, and playing with your friends is oh so fun :)
Play to win... or to have fun too! :)
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| karasu99 359th Post
PSN: robotchris
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Silver Customer
| "Re(6):Nier, but SMG2 soon!" , posted Fri 21 May 01:34
quote:
While the idea of a Western appeals to me I'm holding off on Red Dead for awhile. Too often there is a huge difference between the initial reviews of Rockstar titles and what's actually in the game.
This almost makes me want to get the game. I can't recall laughing so hard in quite a while, even though it's a dumb kind of thing to laugh about. Thank you Ishmael for that.
I have a good friend whose favorite game of all time is Red Dead Revolver, so he has been extremely excited about this game. I never played the first one, and I have never been a Rockstar fan, and I'm not terribly fond of this kind of game in the first place, so I will probably avoid it. I think it is largely the same reason why I've avoided Lost Planet 2. Perhaps I am missing out, but... oh well.
Nier continues to be ho hum okay. I played some more last night and fought a boss that was pretty interesting, but ultimately very repetitive. Like I said before, I keep waiting for the really cool part that people keep implying is present, but I'm just not seeing it.
In lighter news, Super Mario Galaxy drops early next week, so I am guessing that I will completely dump Nier in favor of it, and will play it to death. I'm happy to see that it is being compared favorably to Super Mario World, which is still all these years later one of my favorites in the series.
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| karasu99 360th Post
PSN: robotchris
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Silver Customer
| "Re(8):Nier, but SMG2 soon!" , posted Fri 21 May 10:06
quote:
Sorry you're not enjoying Nier, I hope it wasn't me who pressured you to buy it or something! Some people really built it up as something special, so I was curious.
And yes, that Red Dead video you posted kind of spiked my interest for the game, Ishmael. ;-)
Anyway if you guys have PSPs you really have to check out Peace Walker too :)
No no, not at all! You aren't to blame at all. I read a few articles here and there where Nier was a sort of hidden gem, and some of the video I watched seemed to indicate it was so as well. I'm still holding out hope that it will turn around.
I had looked at Peace Walker, but I'm still undecided. It seems to have little in common with MGS, or am I mistaken? That could oddly sell me on getting it.
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| karasu99 368th Post
PSN: robotchris
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Silver Customer
| "Re(5):SMG2" , posted Fri 28 May 03:45:
quote:
On the other hand, when your very appearance is iconic, do you really need fashion sense? Mario is peculiar to me in that he's a character that doesn't have to look "cool" or "freakish" or "cute" or any other styling that normally makes characters attractive, and yet that's perfectly fine. Mario is Mario.
Honestly I haven't cared for Mario's design in the post-16bit years, but I am at a loss to articulate how I would change it or how it should be different, although his design in the Paper Mario games is a good step. Mario is one of those oddities who has survived as a distinct character for so long that he is trapped with the appearance he started with, just about. Also, I don't like that he takes his hat off these days. That is a mystery that should have stayed unanswered (or at least they should have given him male-pattern baldness).
In response to Iggy's comment about GOTY, yes, I would like to hope that this will put the pressure on others to surpass SMG2, but I don't see it happening (the drive to surpass OR the surpassing, that is).
EDIT: By the way, I would have to resign my Cafe credentials if I did not mention-- I wish that we could have had the option to use Yoshi in more than just the canned Yoshi-use levels! There, I said it! But really this is the most minor of concerns.
[this message was edited by karasu99 on Fri 28 May 03:47] |
| Pollyanna 2926th Post
PSN: Lilly_Dopamine
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Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(6):SMG2" , posted Fri 28 May 06:29
It's not like I expect Mario to be cool or I expect them to change his design...it's just with that voice...with those noises...with those outfits...he comes across as a pervert.
Of course, Luigi is a pervert, too. I'm sure he has some pornography he's ashamed of. He wants to be a normal guy, but he just can't help but let his superfreak show. As such, you kind of want to root for him.
Wario and Waluigi are perverts, too. That goes without saying.
The problem is...Mario is the hero. His weirdness is championed. He can even get away with saying it's innocent. Luigi is the underdog/weird brother and Wario and Waluigi are villains...it's okay for them to be freaks.
Anyway, what I'm saying is that Mario is just the wrong kind of fat and weird. I like Luigi, Wario and Waluigi just fine. They aren't cool or stylish, and they're freaks too.
Ah, but I don't like Yoshi, even if his levels are fun in SMG2. He's just...gross.
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
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| Mosquiton 1766th Post
Silver Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Executive
| "About DOA" , posted Wed 9 Jun 04:28:
quote:
DOA might not be the best 3D fighter technically, but it has a great flow to it, and it has the advantages of not having any ridiculous walls to climb before you can properly enjoy yourself or "play the right way". The rhythm of attacking and countering is really addictive to me, so I'm eagerly anticipating a new entry in the series. A little makeover is all it needs.
I know what you mean. In the same way that I really enjoy Rival Schools even though it's not as refined as Third Strike (or even SSF4), I can really enjoy Dead Or Alive. DOA's janken design may be simple but it's not like it's broken. Having a universal system makes it really easy to switch to a new character without tons of practice, and pulling off counters is just super enjoyable.
I remember one moment in DOA2, I was playing against my friend's Jan Lee as Ayane in the great wall-esque stage. I backed against the wall for the   throw that basically climbs onto your opponent's shoulder and kicks them in the back of the head, point-blank slamming his face into bricks. I paused it the instant he started making out with the wall laughed uncontrollably for several minutes. He laughed a bit too but think it was a little bit funnier for me...
You're completely right about the need for a makeover, though, Polly, my dear. Even Dead or Alive 3 felt oddly dated to me... they never really left behind the 90's vibe. Soul Calibur had at least some success with their visual updates (although I won't pretend that they didn't tarnish some of my favorite designs, or that ultimate armor breaker critical finishers aren't total wasteful design bullshit).
So yeah DOA needs to step it up, I could really use some more delicious fighting cheesecake.
And clothes ripping would be a great fit. Just go with two or three solid outfits for each character and let players tweak the palette. And definitely forget all the bullshit customization that IMO added nothing of value to Tekken or Virtua Fighter.
/ / /
[this message was edited by Mosquiton on Wed 9 Jun 04:35] |
| Pollyanna 2930th Post
PSN: Lilly_Dopamine
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Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(8):Re(10):Random thread *I am pretty* ver" , posted Wed 9 Jun 04:50
Capcom finally put together a Last Ranker trailer that interested me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA-TxcrakOc&feature=player_embedded
I'm still iffy about the game, but I'll end up playing it anyway, for better or worse. The webpage has a lot of stuff, too...
http://www.capcom.co.jp/LR/
Also...
quote:
Things cannot be any more random then this.
I know nothing about Chaos Breaker but if it comes with this opening it can't be all bad.
SICK.
EDIT: (posted at the same time as Mosquiton, so it looked like I ignored him)
quote:
You're completely right about the need for a makeover, though, Polly, my dear. Even Dead or Alive 3 felt oddly dated to me... they never really left behind the 90's vibe. Soul Calibur had at least some success with their visual updates (although I won't pretend that they didn't tarnish some of my favorite designs, or that ultimate armor breaker critical finishers aren't total wasteful design bullshit).
Soul Calibur 4 was wayyyy too tacky for my tastes, but I do appreciate their commitment to redesigning everything each game. It feels like a sequel...and even if they're moving in crazy directions, they're still moving forward.As you said, DOA is trapped in the past.
I disagree on the costume point, though. I mean...I'd be happy with 3 solid costumes and color editing...that's a good compromise, but DOA was the series that got me excited about multiple costumes in the first place. I don't know if other players like playing dress-up as much as me, but that was a major draw of the first DOA as well as the DOAX games.
I like being able to customize a character if I'm not crazy about their design...and I like seeing everyone else's interesting takes online, but I don't mean to say that this takes precedence over solid costumes in the first place. I'd rather have 2 good designs than hundreds of variations on bad ones.
I wish more companies would get guest costume designers like Namco does...
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
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| Iggy 9141th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(10):Re(10):Random thread *I am pretty* ver" , posted Wed 9 Jun 10:13
quote:
Huh. I should probably backpedal a bit. I honestly almost forgot that I enjoyed doing what I could to correct Ivy's awful wardrobe choice in Soul Calibur 4 and sexing up Lili Rochefort to be the ultimate sunglasses-equipped battle-tart.
Not only do I fully agree on this, I am also relieved that we finally talk about something that has to do with the title of the thread/the topic of the board.
I think Soul Calibur 4 succeeds where Tekken and especially VF on 2 points : first, being set in a crazy medieval universe with crazy weapons, the characters can wear almost whatever they want. I wouldn't put on any character from Tekken half of the stupid masks and awesome hats that I've routinely used in Calibur.
The other thing is the character creation thing.
Since you're not modifying an existing design (though some, such as Ivy's, BEG to be corrected) but creating an all new character, you're much more free to do whatever you want.
I never played with dolls when I was a kid, only played the Sims to try all the ways of killing a character, but me and my boyfriend are still having lots of fun creating a whole new layer of intricate scenario around the fabulous Hulla Him (Tira's style) who gets all the chicks with his manly ways, but whose frail and gentle sister Cunégonde (Nightmare's style) keeps getting abducted by the diabolical Madame Andrée (Cervantes) and her vile minions. We must be near 20 characters by now, all with a more detailed background than the other. Our last creation was the mysterious butler of the family, Almodovar (Voldo), who seems to hints that the apparently long dead father of the family would actually be alive, to the dismay of Hulla Him and Cunégonde...
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| Maou 2009th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(3):Re: Xenoburaido" , posted Wed 9 Jun 16:47
quote:
Any impressions yet?
Yes: the only ones that matter: MINE. I think it sounds incredibly interesting, and the world design is pretty astounding. Those trailers from a few months ago were certainly interesting. I'm intrigued too by these stray Xeno-folks. More than a decade later, I still have a complex relationship with Xenogears---which is either one of the greatest RPG scripts of all time or terrible Evangelion fanfiction, depending on my mood. I think that with the proper editor, these guys have the potential to make something very powerful and moving...regrettably for them, they haven't had such an editor yet, though they succeeded in spite of themselves with Xenogears at least (storywise, of course---helps to ignore the awful game system). If you'd trimmed out all the bafflingly blatant Evangelion stuff, you'd still be left with a transgenerational epic and some amazing scenario writing. And looking at these trailers from before, I still see the potential.
I'm pretty sceptical of anyone's ability to create "protagonists that people don't hate anymore." I don't think any halfway decent characters have been written since...Final Fantasy X? Maybe XII if I limit it only to Balflear and nobody else in that stupid party.
人間はいつも私を驚かせてくれる。不思議なものだな、人間という存在は．．．
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| Pollyanna 2931th Post
PSN: Lilly_Dopamine
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Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(4):Re: Xenoburaido" , posted Wed 9 Jun 18:10
quote:
I guess I have so little trust in getting something decent in the first place I'd settle for a few really good designs for a relaunch/rebirth/re-what-have-you. And if they did go all clothes rippity with DOA, I'd assume they'd get better results tweaking the effect per outfit.
This is a good point, seeing as the replacement for "battle damage" on the custom costumes in SC4 just had them kind of...blow up. While I had fun kicking people until their pants blew up, I wouldn't call that the ideal solution to the problem.
It's unfortunate that SF4 wasn't daring in so many ways, but the alt costumes hurts the most. Here, they could have dramatically re-imagined the characters and still hid behind the original designs. Instead, we get a couple chuckles, a handful of good ideas and a mound of garbage. I am worried that fear of innovation may result in a similar disappointment when DOA whatever does (or does not) come out.
quote:
I think Soul Calibur 4 succeeds where Tekken and especially VF on 2 points : first, being set in a crazy medieval universe with crazy weapons, the characters can wear almost whatever they want. I wouldn't put on any character from Tekken half of the stupid masks and awesome hats that I've routinely used in Calibur.
You don't mean to imply that Tekken is not stupid, do you? Because I would argue that there is almost no limit to Tekken's stupidity. (this is in no way to its detriment, by the way)
quote:
Any impressions yet?
I'm reserving judgment until I play the game, which with any luck, will be next week. As of now, I'm just glad that the size of the world is offset by your fast running speed.
quote:
I don't think any halfway decent characters have been written since...Final Fantasy X? Maybe XII if I limit it only to Balflear and nobody else in that stupid party.
I'm sorry, but I really don't think you're even remotely qualified to make that statement. What percentage of the RPGs released since FFX have you played? I'm going to guess it's a significantly smaller number than what I've played, which is a significantly smaller number than the total released.
I would agree that there's a fantastic array of detestable RPG characters, but there's no shortage of hidden gems, either.
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
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| Maou 2011th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(5):Re: Xenoburaido" , posted Thu 10 Jun 11:48:
quote:
You don't mean to imply that Tekken is not stupid, do you? Because I would argue that there is almost no limit to Tekken's stupidity. (this is in no way to its detriment, by the way)
True, though I worry that Tekken was delightfully stupid in a very unpracticed sort of way up through Tekken 3, what with Roger Jr. and Mokujin and Gon and everything else (hmm, Tekken Force Mode!) just sort of showing up without feeling like it 'had to be in there.' They may now be constrained by their previously unbound stupidity and may or may not be quite as hilarious because they're conscious of the importance of it. I can't tell anymore!
quote:
I'm sorry, but I really don't think you're even remotely qualified to make that statement.
My only qualifications are my curmudgeonliness and my own myopic vision of modern gaming! Which is to say that I'm ideal for the internet. But while you get three demerits for the maddening Americanism of "I'm sorry, but [I am not actually sorry]," you get at least four bonus points for knocking me to my senses so that I remember that I've forgotten my love for RPG's in the modern era and haven't played nearly enough! I used to play them like it was my job before so much of the market seemed (at least to me) to implode into Jpop madness (and not even classy FF VIII Jpop madness), anime cliches, and terrifyingly regressive structural choices. Interestingly, this seems to have coincided with the unthinkable phenomenon of Tales of and Star Ocean actually becoming mainstay series. Or maybe I'm still bitter about 20 great hours of Abyss being buried in 40 more hours of...not great hours. I should really play more RPG's again though, it's true. Your remarks on small, important artistic details you notice in modern RPG's (FF XIII, for instance) always make me want to play more.
人間はいつも私を驚かせてくれる。不思議なものだな、人間という存在は．．．
[this message was edited by Maou on Thu 10 Jun 11:53] |
| Pollyanna 2933th Post
PSN: Lilly_Dopamine
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Wii: n/a
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(6):Re: Xenoburaido" , posted Thu 10 Jun 18:10
quote:
Or maybe I'm still bitter about 20 great hours of Abyss being buried in 40 more hours of...not great hours. I should really play more RPG's again though, it's true. Your remarks on small, important artistic details you notice in modern RPG's (FF XIII, for instance) always make me want to play more.
The small details are what's driving and killing the RPG industry for me. There are SO many details that are absolutely wonderful about FFXIII, but in the end, it was painfully obvious, for all its good points, that the game was a hack job and something went terribly wrong in production.
ToA had all the makings of an excellent RPG (excluding the soundtrack), but completely forgot that people would be PLAYING the game for hours at a time. Tales of Vesperia was a joy to play, but plays it so safe with plot and characters that its hard to be enthusiastic about it. More recently, Tales of Graces did pretty much everything right, but had numerous GLARING technical issues that should not have passed. I'm hoping for a fixed up PS3 version.
Blue Dragon was charming and meticulously constructed, but had the blandest story and cast I've seen (outside of an Ys game) in years.
Lost Odyssey escaped the anime curse and was solid on all fronts, but fell apart completely in terms of plot and difficulty balance 2/3 through the game.
I think the most solid RPG I've played recently was Arc Rise Fantasia, which (excluding the awful FMV opening) gave me little to complain about. Ah...I guess the weapons system was equal parts brilliant and counter-intuitive, so I'll call it even.
Anyway, I certainly can't blame anyone for being disenchanted with the current RPG market. For as many games as I play, I have a very tough time picking one to recommend. I believe that modern RPGs have topped the classics in every individual respect, but often fail so miserably to offer a "total package" that it's hard to say that things are better than "the good old days".
quote:
Jpop madness
I blame Gackt. On the FF front at least. Blame Nomura if you like, but Gackt is the source of this.
Admittedly, I appreciate the super pop feel of the new Persona games (even if I prefer the old ones), but I DO NOT appreciate how they suffer from...
quote:
anime cliches
I don't ever ever EVER want to hear the line "how can I save the town/country/world if I can't even save one person!?" again. I also refuse to accept "the power of love" as a reasonable plot device.
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
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| Nekros 266th Post
Copper Customer
| "Re(6):Re: Xenoburaido" , posted Thu 10 Jun 23:38
quote:
I'm sorry, but I really don't think you're even remotely qualified to make that statement. My only qualifications are my curmudgeonliness and my own myopic vision of modern gaming! Which is to say that I'm ideal for the internet. But while you get three demerits for the maddening Americanism of "I'm sorry, but [I am not actually sorry]," you get at least four bonus points for knocking me to my senses so that I remember that I've forgotten my love for RPG's in the modern era and haven't played nearly enough! I used to play them like it was my job before so much of the market seemed (at least to me) to implode into Jpop madness (and not even classy FF VIII Jpop madness), anime cliches, and terrifyingly regressive structural choices. Interestingly, this seems to have coincided with the unthinkable phenomenon of Tales of
The main difference between yesterdays and nowadays is that originality was given up in favor of market requesting.
Jrpgs that are both experimental and interesting are extincted in this generation. Games like Parasite Eve, Shadow Hearts, Ar Tonelico 2D, The Raidou saga, Wild Arms, Xenogears, Grandia and even Legaia are absolutely ignored as example by modern developers.
Instead they follow the moe way (take Valkyria 2 on PSP and its AWFUL design, especially compared with the original), the semi-tactis way (Megaten on DS) and the polygonal rubberdoll way (Star Ocean, Resonance). It's about market, not fashion or pop-style. They produce what the people want, and they want moe in Japan and 3D in Gaijin countries. Also, they seem to appreciate standards, both in story and design, so every glimpse of creativity is taken down by a general lack of request by the major target.
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| HAYATO 978th Post
Red Carpet Regular Member++
| "Re(4):Re(10):Re: Xenoburaido" , posted Fri 11 Jun 21:40
quote:
It may have had to do with time constraints... just the same reason why Xenogears was crippled. Or, perhaps, it was due to overwhelming ambition on the director's side (i.e. planning things in a bigger scope than Wii can properly handle).
Anyway, just another victim of the "Xenocurse"...
Ah, actually we were talking about FFXIII. Subject got changed in my rambling post about RPGs.
Hopefully I'll have Xenoblade to play tomorrow, but I'm sure whatever shortcomings it suffers from won't become apparent until I've already put 30 hours into the game...hahah.
Although the Xeno games have certainly suffered from their fair share of unfortunate shakeups, I can't say that Xenogears had any lack of content.
Yeah, I must concur: Xenogears was pretty long and crammed with enough content to satisfy even the most demanding players but some dungeons and playable characters got the axe due to time constraints, IIRC.
Anyway, I wouldn't have been able to bear about 6 or 8 additional hours of gameplay, had all those monologues on the 2nd disc been implemented in the end...
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| Maou 2014th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(5):Re(10):Re: Xenoburaido" , posted Sat 12 Jun 11:05:
quote:
Yeah, I must concur: Xenogears was pretty long and crammed with enough content to satisfy even the most demanding players but some dungeons and playable characters got the axe due to time constraints, IIRC.
Anyway, I wouldn't have been able to bear about 6 or 8 additional hours of gameplay, had all those monologues on the 2nd disc been implemented in the end...
The irony is that if they'd clipped the entirely pointless and terrible 5 hour segment in the Kiev capital of Noatun with Rico and the battle arena and the sewer monster, they would have had not only a more cohesive and driven game narrative, they probably could have avoided the terrible abridgement of Disc 2.
...
.....although even as someone with a (mixed, conflicted) soft spot for the game, I can't help but wonder if the Disc 2 monologues/budget breakdown were yet ANOTHER way for them to blatantly imitate Evangelion which also ran out of cash at the end and had a similarly terrible episode of still shots, as I recall. Maybe even in a chair! I don't remember!
人間はいつも私を驚かせてくれる。不思議なものだな、人間という存在は．．．
[this message was edited by Maou on Sat 12 Jun 11:08] |
| HAYATO 979th Post
Red Carpet Regular Member++
| "Re(6):Re(10):Re: Xenoburaido" , posted Sat 12 Jun 11:24
quote:
Yeah, I must concur: Xenogears was pretty long and crammed with enough content to satisfy even the most demanding players but some dungeons and playable characters got the axe due to time constraints, IIRC.
Anyway, I wouldn't have been able to bear about 6 or 8 additional hours of gameplay, had all those monologues on the 2nd disc been implemented in the end...
The irony is that if they'd clipped the entirely pointless and terrible 5 hour segment in the Kiev capital of Noatun with Rico and the battle arena and the sewer monster, they would have had not only a more cohesive and driven game narrative, they probably could have avoided the terrible abridgement of Disc 2.
Your lips speak words of truth, wise friend!! Weren't it for Rico's segment, the game would've been thoroughly enjoyable (bar the 2nd disc apocalypse, that is). I know of many friends of mine that left the game at that point, out of sheer frustration (some of them more than once!!)...
quote:
.....although even as someone with a (mixed, conflicted) soft spot for the game, I can't help but wonder if the Disc 2 monologues/budget breakdown were yet ANOTHER way for them to blatantly imitate Evangelion which also ran out of cash at the end and had a similarly terrible episode of still shots, as I recall. Maybe even in a chair! I don't remember!
Then, it's only a matter of time that we get a "Xenogears 2.0 - Yitan is (not) Solarean", a revamped version which will do justice to the plot once and for all!! We only have to keep waiting a little more...
*taking a confortable armchair, just in case*
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| Maou 2015th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "ode/curse to Xenogears" , posted Sat 12 Jun 15:40:
quote:
Your lips speak words of truth, wise friend!! Weren't it for Rico's segment, the game would've been thoroughly enjoyable (bar the 2nd disc apocalypse, that is). I know of many friends of mine that left the game at that point, out of sheer frustration (some of them more than once!!)...
I had no idea other people hated that literally game-breaking segment as much as I did. Two interesting anecdotes: 1. I am probably the only (non-crazy) person ever to have finished Xenogears twice on purpose. I wasn't even a shut-in during high school! It makes me realize how much time one has then. 2. Playing through a second time makes the terrible parts almost more bearable, oddly enough, because you know to hold your nose, grimace and not talk to a single damn townsperson during Noatun etc. so you can speed through those wretched five hours in two. It worked for me.
I'm still in awe of Xenogears and have yet to see anyone write something that even scratches the mindshatteringly odd creative process surrounding that game...usually it's just "I love it" or "I hate it." How dull. Xenogears may unintentionally be pure art, even if it's also possibly the worst-edited RPG ever made. It seems to have been designed by a schizophrenic containing 18 people, or else by a design team of 10 geniuses and 10 otaku, or by moderately good creative types who threw every interesting idea they'd ever come up with at a wall and saw what stuck (everything, unfortunately).
Like, in between the pathetic Eva theft (humans into one godlike being, Elly's needlessly red Asuka hair, totally uncalled-for mechas), there are positively fascinating levels of story design, history, in-game cultures, and everything else, but it's probably got about three game scenarios in one. I own the wonderful Xenogears Perfect Works, which most people just get for the lovely art (and that game had good art), but it's also about a three-hundred page encyclopedia of history, backstory, and culture/world-building I haven't seen the likes of since JRR Tolkien. Unfortunately, reading it there in book form makes a lot more sense than it does on merely one playthrough.
In conclusion, Xenogears is still the best and the worst RPG narrative ever made. Too bad about that awful game engine that came with it.
Ave is still my favorite RPG city EVER, though.
人間はいつも私を驚かせてくれる。不思議なものだな、人間という存在は．．．
[this message was edited by Maou on Sat 12 Jun 15:52] |
| HAYATO 983th Post
Red Carpet Regular Member++
| "Re(1):ode/curse to Xenogears" , posted Sat 12 Jun 18:53
quote:
I'm still in awe of Xenogears and have yet to see anyone write something that even scratches the mindshatteringly odd creative process surrounding that game...usually it's just "I love it" or "I hate it." How dull. Xenogears may unintentionally be pure art, even if it's also possibly the worst-edited RPG ever made. It seems to have been designed by a schizophrenic containing 18 people, or else by a design team of 10 geniuses and 10 otaku, or by moderately good creative types who threw every interesting idea they'd ever come up with at a wall and saw what stuck (everything, unfortunately).
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is Xenogears in a nutshell!!
Damn, you made me remember how badly Xenogears needs a remake, in order to have its structure polished and enhanced...
Oddly enough, the only thing I'd leave out of the game (besides the sewer quest, of course) are the mechas in its entirety. Althoug I'm no big fan of giant robots, I'd have tolerated their inclusion were them used in some specifical points in the game. But, being forced to control them trhoughout the whole game was almost too much for me to bear (although I must admit that stomping Solaris soldiers with Weltall and friends was great fun!!)...
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| whitesword 1685th Post
Tailored Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member
| "Re(1):ode/curse to Xenogears" , posted Sun 13 Jun 04:48:
quote:
Like, in between the pathetic Eva theft (humans into one godlike being, Elly's needlessly red Asuka hair, totally uncalled-for mechas)
I'll have to stop you right there. Evangelion was not nearly as big an influence/theft source as you might think it was. Things like Maoh Dante, Getter Robo Gou, G Gundam, and others were all probably more influential.
Edit: and the super robots mecha (ugh) were totally necessary since they encompass humanity's origin and past (humanoid form, machine made by an ancestor), will and present (the technology and the pilot), and destiny and future (the old "God or devil" shtick). Without super robots mecha, Xenogears simply wouldn't have been the same.
...
AND IF YOU DISAGREE WITH ME THEN U R STOOPID!!!1 (please don't disagree)
[this message was edited by whitesword on Sun 13 Jun 05:19] |
| Pollyanna 2938th Post
PSN: Lilly_Dopamine
XBL: n/a
Wii: n/a
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "XENOBLAAAAAADE" , posted Sun 13 Jun 19:44
I was going to go on a tirade about the evolution of Monolith's battle system in their later games, Eva influence and robots, but instead I think it would be more interesting if I just posted my Xenoblade impressions.
Haven't played much...got through the first sort of...story arc, but so far so good. Wakamoto is in (and out) in the first five minutes. That's how you start a game!
(excuse me if this information is a bit off, due to my limited experience with the game)
It seems highly influenced by FFXII. It has the same "painted" texture to the renders, the big explorable world, immediate entrance into battles that work in real-time and tons of side quests.
The battle system is somewhere between FFXII and FFXIII, I suppose. No MP (yes!) and no items (YES!). Once you initiate combat, all of your characters auto attack. You control one. Perhaps you can switch later. You have an easy-to-navigate horizontal bar with different icons representing your different skills. You have a lot of them and you can use them all (remember, no MP cost) at the beginning of each fight. Once you use a skill, then it begins to "recharge" (like an online RPG) and you can use it again a varying number of seconds later. The battles are quite fast and since you have a fairly wide variety of skills, you spend little time auto-attacking. Waiting for your heal skill to recharge while your party is dying is really exciting.
Different skills have specific effects/requirements. Some must be done from in front of the enemy, some from behind, some have different ranges, others reduce stats, induce bleeding or cause knock-down. Some enemies must be knocked down before you can damage them...or can only be damaged by a certain kind of weapon...that sort of thing. To add to the chaos in battle, you also have a "unison gauge" which is filled by hitting timed button presses at certain points during the fight. When the gauge is full, you can do a chain of skills where each party member attacks in rapid succession. When a party member runs out of HP, you can revive them, but your "union" gauge is lowered.
Although it's definitely possible to get lost in the madness of battle and you don't have the level of control that some players will demand, the battle system is thoughtful and exciting. Much like a Tales game, using a different character gives you a different experience. My only complaint(?) is that you don't have the overblown super moves that I expect from Monolith games.
The world is rich and full of things to do. The sidequests are initiated from townspeople (usually) and "auto complete" when you're done with them. No annoying trekking back and forth like in FFXII. You collect a lot of "things"...flowers, feathers, whatever...from both enemies and the environment around you. Filling out a full collection of flora and fauna (in something resembling a scrap book) gets you gems to attach to weapons and armor.
There is a crazy number of items in the game. You get tons after every fight. Items to sell, items to collect and assloads of variations on each piece of equipment. I think they overdid it a bit on the equipment (bothersome to equip/wade through), but it makes every fight seem more meaningful. The game keeps you busy and its easy to get sidetracked. In particular, I enjoy the "unique monsters" in each area that give you a wealth of pseudo boss fights to challenge yourself with.
The soundtrack is great. It can't compare to the eerie and epic orchestra tracks in Xenosaga, but as far as Mitsuda works go, it stacks up well against...say...Chrono Cross. It's very strong for a digital soundtrack. Graphics are so-so. The world has a lot of stuff in it, so I feel like their resources were stretched a bit thin. Some of the characters look a bit odd, but I appreciate the non-anime look.
Typical of a Xeno game, I guess, the characters are a bit weak, but the story is interesting. There's a twist very early on and the world is a complete mystery, even to the people living in it. The adversaries (The Kishin troops, I mean) have a eerie and mysterious quality to them. How intelligent are they? Why can't they be harmed? Why do they "consume" humans? Depending on how interesting the answers are, the game could be a stunning success, or fall flat on its face.
So far, the game is showing tremendous potential. Excluding the clogged equipment system and somewhat bland (sometimes ugly) characters, my experience has been overwhelmingly positive. Completionists are going to find themselves easily (and painfully) entangled in the massive web of sidequests, but the average player probably won't be annoyed by missing a few time-specific ones. Even if it turns out to be a stinker, I would immediately recommend it to anyone who thinks that FFXII should've been the evolution of RPGs.
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
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| whitesword 1685th Post
Tailored Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member
| "Re(1):XENOBLAAAAAADE" , posted Mon 14 Jun 23:53
quote:
I was going to go on a tirade about the evolution of Monolith's battle system in their later games, Eva influence and robots, but instead I think it would be more interesting if I just posted my Xenoblade impressions.
Haven't played much...got through the first sort of...story arc, but so far so good. Wakamoto is in (and out) in the first five minutes. That's how you start a game!
(excuse me if this information is a bit off, due to my limited experience with the game)
It seems highly influenced by FFXII. It has the same "painted" texture to the renders, the big explorable world, immediate entrance into battles that work in real-time and tons of side quests.
The battle system is somewhere between FFXII and FFXIII, I suppose. No MP (yes!) and no items (YES!). Once you initiate combat, all of your characters auto attack. You control one. Perhaps you can switch later. You have an easy-to-navigate horizontal bar with different icons representing your different skills. You have a lot of them and you can use them all (remember, no MP cost) at the beginning of each fight. Once you use a skill, then it begins to "recharge" (like an online RPG) and you can use it again a varying number of seconds later. The battles are quite fast and since you have a fairly wide variety of skills, you spend little time auto-attacking. Waiting for your heal skill to recharge while your party is dying is really exciting.
Different skills have specific effects/requirements. Some must be done
-- Message too long, Autoquote has been Snipped --
Exactly how much interactivity is there with party members? Strategies? Equipment? Customization?
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| Pollyanna 2939th Post
PSN: Lilly_Dopamine
XBL: n/a
Wii: n/a
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(2):XENOBLAAAAAADE" , posted Tue 15 Jun 05:29
quote:
Exactly how much interactivity is there with party members? Strategies? Equipment? Customization?
You mean with all party members? Or just the one you're using?
Well, whatever. I'll give you both. You have 6 equipment slots and a disgusting number of variations between the pieces of equipment that go there. Then you have a varying number of gem slots for the individual pieces of equipment. The best way I've found to get gems is to fill up your "scrap book", but I believe you can synthesize them as well.
In terms of your battle skills, you unlock them as you level and you have points to level THEM as well (to increase their damage, chance of causing bad status and recharge time). They max out at like...level 4, but you can buy a book to increase that max to 8...and so on. You can only equip so many at once, but that number is fairly high...enough to keep you doing skills almost constantly. Any more, and you wouldn't be able to navigate the menu.
In addition to your battle skills, you have three different "skill trees" to select from that give you different stat effects (increased speed, better magic). These level up over time, but you can only have one tree equipped at a time, and I don't believe their skills stack.
Then you have some other thing I haven't figured out yet because I was too sleepy when I unlocked it. It's like a skill tree with empty slots that you fill with skill slots from OTHER character's skill trees. Each character has one related to each other character in the party, so they're "relationship" related. They have a lot of "Kizuna" (bonds) things in the game (like character specific conversations you find on the map) that build your relationship and effect how you effect each other in battle.
In battle itself, you only control one person, but you're able to use anyone you like. I believe you're also able to delegate which skills your party members use and don't use. There are some times when you give direct commands, though. Like when you use a unison attack, or when you try to change the future. Uhm...like...it's a plot device, but the main character can tell the future to predict danger...usually someone dying. In battle, you'll have visions of the future where the enemy does fatal damage (or very high) damage to a particular party member. You have so many seconds before it happens, so you can "change the future" by preparing for it. In these instances, if you run to your party members, you can give them an order to better prepare for the oncoming beat down. This doesn't so much make the game easier as it gives them an excuse to make the enemies do especially terrible things. It's more fun than it sounds because (like everything else) it's very fast.
Whew! Anyway, there's a lot to do! I wish the menus were a little more user-friendly, but it's definitely not bad. I also wish I had more time to play the game...it really does seem like a winner.
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
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| Pollyanna 2943th Post
PSN: Lilly_Dopamine
XBL: n/a
Wii: n/a
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(6):XENOBLAAAAAADE" , posted Wed 16 Jun 19:32
Xenoblade update: Still totally awesome. I think I can stop being afraid that it's going to fall apart. Exploration is a blast, sidequests are unusually painless and despite the mediocre renders, the action-packed cinemas are really engrossing. Everything else is blatantly good.
quote:
Dammit Polly, in between this and your love for Arc Rise Phantasia, you're going to make it so that the first system I buy post-DS is a Wii, of all things! So very tempted. I'd be thrilled if the voice inside your sword belonged to a Xeno character...hahah.
Please make it belong to Hammer.
Hammer has the fantastic distinction of being my least favorite character in both Xenogears and Xenosaga. Although Saga Hammer was not as blatantly detestable, he was spread over 3 games instead of a portion of one...as such, I can't choose which Hammer I hate more.
Arc Rise is an RPG for RPG fans. It doesn't do much new, but it's rock solid. I enjoyed the characters and plot enough, but more than anything, its boss fights were really incredible. If I made a "top 10 RPG boss fights" list, most of them would be from that game. They simultaneously left me begging for mercy and begging for more almost every time.
Heh...if Last Story turns out good, maybe a Wii wouldn't be such a bad investment! I severely dislike the system...and every time it gets a good exclusive, I wish it was on PS3 or 360 instead. Still, I can't deny that it has at least a few truly excellent games.
Now that I think about it, I guess my favorite DS RPG is DQ9. That system outdoes even the PS2 when it comes to its wealth of mediocre RPGs.
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
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.... It was even necessary adding a "gender" field in the profiles? 
Ono and the Fanboy spirit.
"Re(9):Re(10):Random thread *I am pretty* ver" , posted Thu 10 Jun 11:26
