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| chazumaru 1710th Post
  
Tailored Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member
 
    
    
    
    
|  "RANDOM GAMES! #32: The murder of E3 Genovese" , posted Tue 31 May 11:39  
Previous topic:
>>RANDOM GAMES! #31
The year E3 got murdered in front of 30 witnesses and nobody did anything... Considering the lack of enthusiasm and effort from many actors of the industry this year, I doubt this E3 will be for the ages, despite the possibility we get a first tease of Kojima's new project, and the very high probability we see Resident Evil 7 for the first time. Still, some news and trailers are bound to arrive in the coming days, so now is probably a good time to refresh a new thread.
◊ Did you expect the algorithm that decides Overwatch's best action of the game to work that well?
◊ A cool video about an impressive port.
◊ There was a loketest for Magician's Dead last weekend. I am quite curious about Byking's efforts so I actually went to give the game a try. It was a mixed experience. The motion sensor thing works as advertised, it's actually fun to use and I would not mind a gun shooting game like The House of the Dead using that technology. Some IP exploiting psychic/telekinetic powers, like the "Railgun" anime, could fit that kind of experience.
Unfortunately, there is more to the game than the shooting, and the action/movement part is a bit confusing. Because the action is so focussed on what's in front of the player, there is very little emphasis on lateral movement, and that makes any defensive action really frustrating. Also, I really struggled with special moves involving both hands ; the game seems quite strict on where it wants each hand to be.
Another problem is that magic is less intuitive than shooting a gun. When you fire a bullet at someone, you take for granted that you'll manage to hit them as long as they are on the path of your bullet. In MD, the characters use magic, and unless your attack is represented by a huge magic beam that covers the entire distance from your player to the target enemy, it's not so clear whether your attack connected (or whether it should connect in the first place). Finally, I felt the action got repetitive after 3 fights, which is a problem for an arcade game.
Même Narumi est épatée !
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| Spoon 3385th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
  
| "Re(4):RANDOM GAMES! #32: what's in a date" , posted Fri 3 Jun 10:57
quote:
this sleazy little series has been merrily moving along while other, more respectable franchises come and go. Aya and company have been around since 2004!
Oneechanbara has been around for longer than BioShock, and continues to be around.
Though 1 year younger than Sands of Time era Prince of Persia, Oneechanbara has seen releases after the year 2010, which was the last time PoP got a game from Ubisoft.
But wait! Perhaps we should look at some more similar genre games. Character Action Games, like Onimusha and DMC. The last Onimusha game to be released was in 2012, and was a mobile browser game. DMC is significantly older than Oneechanbara (3 years older), and has recently (2015) had an HD re-release featuring new playable characters (which Oneechanbara totally does, too). Ninja Gaiden has seen regular releases since its 2004 reboot as a character action game, including a release as recent 2014. So Oneechanbara can be said to have kept up with its contemporaries, at least in terms of being a not-dead franchise.
All told, that's kind of hilarious.
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| Spoon 3386th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(3):RANDOM GAMES! #32: what's in a list" , posted Fri 3 Jun 15:48
quote:
Also of note is how many Western games creep onto that list as console generations go by. What a change of pace.
It's kind of an odd trend in places, though.
Nintendo has all of zero Western-developed titles across all of its lists. The Sony portables have zero Western-developed titles as well. The Xbox consoles get more, which isn't so surprising, but there are surprising omissions as well (no Halo titles appear on the 360's list!).
PS3 has more Western-developed titles on its list than PS4 does!
I have to find the OG Xbox list funny because all of one Western-developed title is on its list, Halo. Shikigami no Shiro was quite literally considered more notable than Forza, Oblivion, Prince of Persia Sands of Time, GTA San Andreas, Knights of the Old Republic, Splinter Cell, Burnout, and Halo 2. Like, wow.
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| chazumaru 1715th Post
Tailored Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member
| "Re(4):RANDOM GAMES! #32: what's in a list" , posted Fri 3 Jun 22:25
>>Nintendo has all of zero Western-developed titles across all of its lists.
What about Golden Eye and Donkey Kong 64 ? Unless I misunderstood your point.
>>Shikigami no Shiro was quite literally considered more notable than
To be fair, it had a cult following in Japan. This is not just about sales. Actually, as #FE shows, it's not much about sales.
>>Ha, how did I miss that? Has anyone in Japan even seen an XB1 outside of a store display?
Yes, having the XB1 rather than the Game Gear, MarkIII, WonderSwan or Neo Geo Pocket is quite hilarious.
>>I wonder what the demographic is for "people who respond to famitsu polls." Probably very otaku.
Pretty much. Famitsu readers who take the time to answer this kind of survey are a special bunch. This list is not so representative of the average Japanese tastes. But! It still has value, because it shows which fanbases are currently active and engaged. You can see here that Atlus fans, Yoko Taro fans and Monolith fans (from Baten Kaitos all the way to PXZ) are very keen to protect their turf. On the other hand, it's interesting to see Chun Soft fans have disappeared compared to ten years ago (Machi was huge in those polls and they pressured Famitsu into giving 428 a 40/40). This is also why FF systematically beats DQ on this kind of survey; FF fans are much more aggressive to protect the brand.
I also find Wrestleball's presence very weird. I wonder if this is due to a specific community / recent meme / famous youtuber.
Même Narumi est épatée !
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| chazumaru 1721th Post
Tailored Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member
| "RANDOM GAMES! #32: what's in a sale" , posted Tue 7 Jun 14:04
Those Japanese e-Shop sales we mentioned earlier are up. Remember there is a further -10% bonus if you are registered to MyNintendo.
Also, the 3 Partena no Kagami / Kid Icarus animated movies are available to download for 3DS (in 3D) on MyNintendo right now. Via
Retail titles
- Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS – ¥3,650
- Fire Emblem if – ¥3,299
- Mario Kart 7 – ¥3,209
- Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer – ¥3,024
- Rhythm Tengoku The ★ Best + – ¥3,299
- Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King – ¥4,198
- Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan – ¥2,574
- Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth – ¥4,537
- Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D – ¥2,925
- Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call – ¥3,120
- Stella Glow – ¥4,205
- Attack on Titan: Humanity in Chains – ¥3,495
- Kid Icarus Uprising – ¥3,202
- Super Mario 3D Land – ¥3,209
- Star Fox 64 3D – ¥3,209
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds – ¥3,209
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D – ¥3,209
- New Super Mario Bros. 2 – ¥3,209
- Pocket Soccer League: Calcio Bit – ¥3,209
- Pro Yakyuu Famista Returns – ¥3,994
- Fantasy Life LINK! – ¥3,329
Digital titles
- BATTLEMINER – ¥350
- The Battle Cats POP! – ¥466
- Box Boy! – ¥476
- Box Boy! One More Box – ¥476
- Dai Kaitaku Jidai ~Mura o Tsukurou~ – ¥480
- IRONFALL -Invasion- – ¥900
- Armed Blue Gunvolt – ¥1,110
- Maison de MAOU – ¥518
- CHAIN BLASTER – ¥420
- Chou Charisou: Atsumete! Choujuu Hunter (Super Bike Rider) – ¥408
- Gyouretsu Nageloop (Tokyo Crash Mobs) – ¥504
- Gurutto Splash! (Fluidity: Spin Cycle) – ¥863
- The Rolling Western – ¥719
- The Rolling Western: Saigo no Youjinbou – ¥1,542
- Shissou Surinuke Anatousu (Ketzal’s Corridors) – ¥576
- Jissha de Chibi Robo! – ¥1,080
- Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure - ¥475
- Hiku-osu (Pushmo) – ¥504
- Hiku-otsu (Crashmo)– ¥504
- Hirari: Sakura Samurai – ¥504
- Mario and Donkey Kong: Mini Mini Carnival – ¥617
- Rhythm Hunter: HarmoKnight – ¥1,295
- Witch & Hero – ¥240
- EDGE – ¥240
Virtual Console
- Kirby Bowl (SFC) – ¥658
- Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers (SFC) – ¥493
- Ganbare Goemon: Yukihime Kyushutsu Emaki (SFC) – ¥493
- F-Zero (SFC) – ¥493
- Super Mario World (SFC) – ¥493
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SFC) – ¥555
- Mother 2 (SFC) – ¥555
- Puyo Puyo Tsu (GG) – ¥287
- Downtown Special: Kunio-kun no Jidaigeki da yo Zenin Shuugou! (FC) – ¥257
- Downtown Nekketsu Koushinkyoku: Soreyuke Daiundoukai (FC) – ¥257
- Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari (FC) – ¥257
- Nekketsu Koukou Dodgeball Bu (FC) – ¥257
- Nekketsu Koukou Dodgeball: Soccer Hen (FC) – ¥257
- Ikki (FC) – ¥257
- Atlantis no Nazo (FC) – ¥257
- Elevator Action (FC) – ¥257
- Hanjuku Hero (FC) – ¥257
- King’s Knight (FC) – ¥257
- Final Fantasy (FC) – ¥257
- Final Fantasy II (FC) – ¥257
- Final Fantasy III (FC) – ¥257
- Spelunker (FC) – ¥257
- Ninja JaJaMaru-kun (FC) – ¥257
- Moero!! Shin Moero!! Pro Yakyuu (FC) – ¥257
- Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children Black Book (GBC) – ¥308
- Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Children Red Book (GBC) – ¥308
- Rockman X: Cyber Mission (GBC) – ¥308
- Rockman X2: Soul Eraser (GBC) – ¥308
- The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (GBC) – ¥308
- The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (GBC) – ¥308
- The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX (GBC) – ¥308
- Trade & Battle: Card Hero (GBC) – ¥308
- Mario Golf GB (GBC) – ¥308
- Mario Tennis GB (GBC) – ¥308
- Wario Land 3: Fushigi na Orgel (GBC) – ¥308
- Rockman World (GB) – ¥205
- Rockman 2 (GB) – ¥205
- Rockman 3 (GB) – ¥205
- Rockman 4 (GB) – ¥205
- Rockman 5 (GB) – ¥205
- Kirby no Kirakira Kids (GB) – ¥205
- Kirby no Pinball (GB) – ¥205
- Kirby no Block Ball (GB) – ¥205
- Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru (GB) – ¥205
- Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters (GB) – ¥205
- Game Boy Gallery (GB) – ¥205
- Game Boy Gallery 2 (GB) – ¥205
- Super Mario Land (GB) – ¥205
- Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (GB) - ¥205
- Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land (GB) – ¥205
- Hoshi no Kirby (GB) – ¥205
- Hoshi no Kirby 2 (GB) – ¥205
- Mario Picross (GB) – ¥205
- Picross 2 (GB) – ¥205
- Yoshi no Panepon (GB) – ¥205
Même Narumi est épatée !
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| chazumaru 1722th Post
Tailored Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member
| "WANTED! TV Champion" , posted Thu 9 Jun 11:04
quote:
if they add an option for japanese audio / english subs they have another customer (if they keep the original audio or voice actors).
Regarding the FF12 Remaster, I believe the inclusion of both dubs has already been confirmed, for all markets. I am more interested in knowing whether they will include both game systems, given that the Zodiac Job System of FF12 International had its own issues and wasn't necessarily better or worse, simply different, than the original game.
I might as well try my luck here.
【WANTED!】
In case some of you stumble upon it, have mightier detective skills than me or some esoteric access to Japanese TV archives, I am looking for a TV show broadcast in 1994, possibly early 1995.
It's an episode of TV Champion, a popular and long-running show from TV Tokyo. Every episode featured specialists from a specific topic/hobby/job, so the show would meet and have local talents face the best mochi makers, the best woodcutters, the best UFO catcher players etc.
The episode I am looking for had its main segment called ＴＶゲーム王, and possibly more exactly ＴＶゲーム王選手権 but I am not 100% sure the segment was already called like that or if they tweaked the wording for following events with a similar theme.
It was the first episode of TV Champion that featured amazing video game players. I know for a fact that Super Puyo Puyo (the SFC version) was played there, which is an important clue to figure out which episode I am talking about because most TV shows featuring Puyo Puyo at the height of its popularity rather focussed on Puyo Puyo 2 (Arcade, Mega Drive or Saturn version).
There you go. That's what I am looking for. A recording of that show. I am on the verge of contacting TV Tokyo.
I found this. Unfortunately that show is presented as the 第2回ＴＶゲーム王選手権 i.e. the second tournament. I know this one was broadcast on January 5, 1996.
You can tell it's not the right one because the Saturn version of Puyo Puyo 2 is played (not Super Puyo Puyo for SFC), and you also have Super Puyo Puyo 2 commercials during the breaks. So that's too late in time; it seems what I am looking for is the previous tournament. What worries me is that I don't find it mentioned in this rather exhaustive list.
I also wondered whether I mistook it for ABC's ゲーム王, a different show exclusive to the Kansai area, which featured moments such as this one. But I am pretty sure the specific show I am looking for was related to TV Champion, and almost certain it came from the Kantō region.
Thanks to any one who even tries to help for a minute, or stumbles upon a clue by chance.
Même Narumi est épatée !
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| chazumaru 1725th Post
Tailored Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member
| "Re(4):WANTED! TV Champion" , posted Thu 9 Jun 21:01
Thanks. To know the broadcast date is a start.
I won't be able to note the following down this time, because it's a huge chunk of data to transcribe, but this week's Famitsu has an even more interesting survey than last week's issue. In a similar fashion to the reader survey, they asked a lot of industry figureheads (more or less every slightly famous game producer in Japan outside of Nintendo and Konami) to list their favourite game per platform, with a maximum limit of 10 platforms (i.e. 10 games).
The cool thing about this is, you can get a lot about the psychology of each person from their choices. You can immediately get a feel of who carefully thought about their list, and who was rather honest and direct. You obviously have some cool individual choices which would never appear on an aggregate list (shoutout to the Japanese producer of The Witcher 3 for mentioning Sanrio Pon Pon Volley as his favorite Famicom game). You have people listing their own games, people making the clear political choice to avoid a specific platform holder, or on the contrary careful to make sure every current platform is mentioned, people sending cryptic messages through their choices, people being Hideki Kamiya doing Hideki Kamiya things, people not able to mention more than 3 or 4 games (and those usually cannot mention anything passed the 32-bit era, hinting they don't really play video games anymore), people cleverly massaging other egos at their company, or diplomatically mentioning a game from the company that owns their company, or suspiciously choosing exactly the same game as their direct Boss... It's quite a fascinating trip into each person's psyche.
Même Narumi est épatée !
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| nobinobita 1615th Post
Red Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member
| "Koei Berserk Caska Tentacle Rape Trailer" , posted Mon 13 Jun 13:42:
quote:
Hi, it's me again ~
Man, I really don't want to spend another 100+ hours on that game. I love it, even though it's really flawed.
I sure do! I've been waiting for a remake on better hardware since before we had better hardware! Was mad they went for FFX first because I thought it was fine on PS2, whereas XII always seemed to push farther than PS2 wanted to go to me...
I would be very surprised if the Japanese audio was better than the English one. I wish we could summon Polly for her opinion on this one!
Can't we? Oh no, have our numbers thinned farther since I've been gone?
New (first?) teaser for Koei's upcoming Berserk game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5w1UlJb-ZY
I have to admit, I'm a little taken aback by this. When a friend of mine sent it to me, I thought "why is he sending me a preview for a hentai figure?" I have a pretty high tolerance for exploitative stuff, but it seems odd to kick off the campaign for a new Koei Berserk game by teasing Caska's rape as a selling point.
In any case, this is now a great opportunity for me to remind everyone that the PS2 Berserk game is one of the best action games EVER and that Yukes can really make some fucking great games when they're not churning out perfectly serviceable WWE games. To this day I think it's the best adaptation of the Berserk manga in any form. Still looks better to me than the movies and upcoming anime series. It's a shame Yukes didn't get a chance to have another go at Berserk on current gen.
I hope the Koei game turns out well, but I'm not sure if it's a good fit for them in terms of tone/artstyle/gameplay (Berserk must absolutely not be full of hit sponges for normal enemies)
www.art-eater.com
[this message was edited by nobinobita on Mon 13 Jun 18:02] |
| Iggy 10282th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P Requiem
| "Re(2):Yo that E3 Sony conference" , posted Tue 14 Jun 19:21
I didn't comment on Nobi's reaction to Berserk Musou because I am just that uneasy.
The game might be good, it might have plenty of cool characters to play as, but... is it really an angle you want to go with?
quote:
Hey looks like Kratos might actually be likeable/not-absolutely-despicable this time around?
That I don't know what to think of either. So many of the trailers from this year feel like "I'm a white guy pushing forty and man, it's so hard when the whole world revolves around you, you see what I mean, right, other white guys pushing forty we're making the game for?".
I'm a white guy pushing forty, but I don't need to be catered to, and I find all this to be terribly infantile. Probably because contrary to all these people, I know the world doesn't revolve around me.
Wait for the God of War guy to claim how making the game more like Last of Us is a proof that videogames have matured. No, they haven't, that guy just thinks he has and feels the need to make a whole game just to prove his point.
I'll take two servings of the new South Park, Pokémon and Zelda instead, thanks.
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| nobinobita 1618th Post
Red Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member
| "Re(3):Yo that E3 Sony conference" , posted Tue 14 Jun 21:04:
quote:
Wait for the God of War guy to claim how making the game more like Last of Us is a proof that videogames have matured. No, they haven't, that guy just thinks he has and feels the need to make a whole game just to prove his point.
I'll take two servings of the new South Park, Pokémon and Zelda instead, thanks.
Thank you so much for that!
I've been trying to find the silver lining in recent games. I don't want to be one of those "back in my day things were better" fuddy duddies, but honestly, I'm finding a lot of these new games to look and feel really interchangeable and dull. To be completely honest, I'm even disappointed with the Kojima reveal trailer. We've finally reached the point where games really do feel like average movies, rather than their weird mutant offspring.
And I don't mean like that simplistic old chest nut about how long cut scenes = "why don't they just make a movie lol?" (Well because Metal Gear and Final Fantasy are still a lot WEIRDER than any movie meant for a broad market can ever be).
This current generation of AAA games, they feel like they're just hitting all the exact same tired emotional and aesthetic notes that slick movies and TV shows have been drilling into for decades. Yes, they aren't doing so explicitly with non gameplay cutscenes. Instead the games themselves tonally feel like uninspired movies you've seen before. Just terrifically dull in their entirety.
I am reminded of something I read in an essay by Hayao Miyazaki. I'm gonna paraphrase him terribly here, but basically he said that "As you get older, you become a more complex person, but not necessarily a more interesting or deeper person."
TLDR: Everything feels like oscar bait. That makes me sad.
www.art-eater.com
[this message was edited by nobinobita on Tue 14 Jun 23:13] |
| Iggy 10283th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P Requiem
| "Re(4):Yo that E3 Sony conference" , posted Tue 14 Jun 22:11
Wow, and on the topic of E3: I don't care for Battlefield at all, but I was reading the game was set on WW1... Yet doesn't have French and Russians.
In WW1.
I was already laughing away from the thread, but then something caught my eye: the game is not only focused on the American army (because of course that would be the focus), it's focused on the 369th Infantry Regiment. So not only did EA decide to disrespect million of European people to play in their 'murican propaganda, they also doubled with a straight-faced white-washing assault on American history. Because why stop half-way?
quote:
The US Army decided on 8 April 1918 to assign the unit to the French Army for the duration of the United States' participation in the war; this regiment was assigned to French Army command because many white American soldiers refused to perform combat duty with black soldiers. The men were issued French weapons, helmets, and brown leather belts and pouches, although they continued to wear their U.S. uniforms. While in the United States, the 369th Regiment was never treated like similar all white units. They were subject to intense racial discrimination and were looked down upon. This regiment suffered considerable harassment by both individual white American soldiers and even denigration by the American Expeditionary Force headquarters which went so far as to release the notorious pamphlet Secret Information Concerning Black American Troops, which "warned" French civilian authorities of the alleged inferior nature and supposed rapist tendencies of African Americans.
In France, the 369th was treated as if they were no different from any other French unit. The French did not show hatred towards them and did not racially segregate the 369th. The 369th finally felt what it was like to be treated equally. The French accepted the all black 369th Regiment with open arms and welcomed them to their country.
These people could make a game on Stonewall centered on a straight white anti-police cis-male.
On the other side of the spectrum, Mafia 3 seems to be including racism as a gameplay mechanic, and they are going in full-force.
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| nobinobita 1618th Post
Red Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member
| "Re(5):Yo that E3 Sony conference" , posted Tue 14 Jun 22:52:
quote:
Wow, and on the topic of E3: I don't care for Battlefield at all, but I was reading the game was set on WW1... Yet doesn't have French and Russians.
In WW1.
I was already laughing away from the thread, but then something caught my eye: the game is not only focused on the American army (because of course that would be the focus), it's focused on the 369th Infantry Regiment. So not only did EA decide to disrespect million of European people to play in their 'murican propaganda, they also doubled with a straight-faced white-washing assault on American history. Because why stop half-way?
The US Army decided on 8 April 1918 to assign the unit to the French Army for the duration of the United States' participation in the war; this regiment was assigned to French Army command because many white American soldiers refused to perform combat duty with black soldiers. The men were issued French weapons, helmets, and brown leather belts and pouches, although they continued to wear their U.S. uniforms. While in the United States, the 369th Regiment was never treated like similar all white units. They were subject to intense racial discrimination and were looked down upon. This regiment suffered considerable harassment by both individual white American soldiers and even denigration by the American Expeditionary Force headquarters which went so far as to release the notorious pamphlet Secret Information
-- Message too long, Autoquote has been Snipped --
Iggy I believe the Harlem Hellfighters are the focus of the preorder DLC bonus, but not necessarily the main unit you follow in the game? I'm confused now because the main piece of promo art for the game is a cool image of a black soldier (in American regalia not French), but the gameplay is definitely primarily scenes of white soldiers.
It would have been amazing if the game actually followed the real history of the 369th Infantry. I don't know if North America is ready to handle a broader look at its own history though. Not one that challenges the notion that the US must always be the most racially progressive place in the world past present and future. I mean we're still making movies about how Jessie Owens defeated those racist Nazis, when in his own biography he emphantically states that he was treated better in Germany than the US and felt more snubbed by his own president than Hitler.
www.art-eater.com
[this message was edited by nobinobita on Tue 14 Jun 22:53] |
| Ishmael 5517th Post
PSN: Ishmael26b
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Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(5):Yo that E3 Sony conference" , posted Wed 15 Jun 00:48:
quote:
Wow, and on the topic of E3: I don't care for Battlefield at all, but I was reading the game was set on WW1... Yet doesn't have French and Russians.
In WW1.
Battlefield isn't my cup of cocoa so I haven't been paying attention but this is hilarious. Pathetic, but hilarious.
A few quick thoughts:
What is up with the new GoW game? In GoW2 Kratos punched out the Colossus of Rhodes in the opening sequence of the game. It was big, dumb and entertaining in it's own loopy way. In this one it opens with Kratos shuffling around with a son who is surprisingly gentle even though twenty foot tall trolls live within a five minute walk of his house. Is this supposed to be a reboot to a slower, more relatable Kratos? If so, why does he still have "Spartan Rage?" Is this game going to try to be something like the Tomb Raider reboot or Last of Us while still trying to be the smash-fest of previous GoW games? It looks like the GoW franchise is going through some growing pains.
Speaking of changes, RE7 looks like quite the shift. I'm not certain if it's what RE fans want from the series but I'm not certain RE fans know what they want from the series. I'll have to try the demo.
The Spider-Man game is built on potential. I don't know what the actual game will be like but I want a game that lets me jump and swing and do whatever a spider can. I also want a better looking suit than the one shown in the trailer.
Good to see that one of the improvements to Ni-Oh is that they added in Momiji. Ninja girls make everything better, there have been scientific studies on this and everything. A ninja girl or two in the trenches of WWI might have even helped me give a rat's ass about Battlefield.
EDIT: So Death Stranding features a naked Norman Reedus giving birth while whales beach themselves? C'mon, I've played that game hundreds of times already!
[this message was edited by Ishmael on Wed 15 Jun 01:00] |
| neo0r0chiaku
208th Post
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Frequent Customer
| "Re(6):Yo that E3 Sony conference" , posted Wed 15 Jun 01:02
quote:
Wow, and on the topic of E3: I don't care for Battlefield at all, but I was reading the game was set on WW1... Yet doesn't have French and Russians.
In WW1.
Battlefield isn't my cup of cocoa so I haven't been paying attention but this is hilarious. Pathetic, but hilarious.
A few quick thoughts:
What is up with the new GoW game? In GoW2 Kratos punched out the Colossus of Rhodes in the opening sequence of the game. It was big, dumb and entertaining in it's own loopy way. In this one it opens with Kratos shuffling around with a son who is surprisingly gentle even though twenty foot tall trolls live within a five minute walk of his house. Is this supposed to be a reboot to a slower, more relatable Kratos? If so, why does he still have "Spartan Rage?" Is this game going to try to be something like the Tomb Raider reboot or Last of Us while still trying to be the smash-fest of previous GoW games? It looks like the GoW franchise is going through some growing pains.
Speaking of changes, RE7 looks like quite the shift. I'm not certain if it's what RE fans want from the series but I'm not certain RE fans know what they want from the series. I'll have to try the demo.
The Spider-Man game is built on potential. I don't know what the actual game will be like but I want a game that lets me jump and swing and do whatever a spider can. I also want a better looking suit than the one shown in the trailer.
Good to see that one of the improvements to Ni-Oh is
-- Message too long, Autoquote has been Snipped --
RE7 looks like it has a 1980's horror movie set in 1970. Yes, by that statement, its confusing to see what its trying to present. That's how I saw it. Let us know how the demo goes.
Long Live I AM!
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| Mosquiton 2175th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(5):Yo that E3 Sony conference" , posted Wed 15 Jun 08:06
quote:
These people could make a game on Stonewall centered on a straight white anti-police cis-male.
On the other side of the spectrum, Mafia 3 seems to be including racism as a gameplay mechanic, and they are going in full-force.
It's really interesting that the new developers at Hangar 13 are putting some huge and deliberate consideration into this. Considering how uneven and weird Mafia II's treatment of race by 2K Czech this should be a nice step up.
(The previous game features particularly lazy and shitty characterization of Chinese immigrants... bad accents, broken and effeminate-sounding English, quips about "Tiger Style," and an achievement called "Chop Chop" for massacring a restaurant and leaving no survivors. Talk about gross.)
quote:
RE: BEARD KRATOS WITH +12 MATURITY
I'm a white guy pushing forty, but I don't need to be catered to, and I find all this to be terribly infantile. Probably because contrary to all these people, I know the world doesn't revolve around me.
Wait for the God of War guy to claim how making the game more like Last of Us is a proof that videogames have matured. No, they haven't, that guy just thinks he has and feels the need to make a whole game just to prove his point.
So, BioShock Infinite syndrome? Speaking of games with bad/lazy/shitty depictions of racism!
But on a lighter note...
quote:
OK, I'm not particularly sold on the game, but Zelda is stunning.
The art style feels like what Skyward Sword was aiming fort but sorta failed to achieve.
Yeah I am into the way this game looks. Optimistic about the gameplay as well, did you see the shield surfing?
/ / /
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| Gojira 3214th Post
PSN: Gojira_X
XBL: Gojiraaa
Wii: n/a
STM: n/a
CFN: n/a
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "E3 Potpourri" , posted Wed 15 Jun 23:55
Hmm, what hasn't been talked about...
I'm still excited for Gravity Rush 2 in spite of Sony's insistence on keeping it low-key. I guess GR Remastered didn't do as well as they'd hoped? Honestly the idea is more pronounced on a handheld, but they decided not to do a Vita version for whatever reason. Kind of a jerk move to cut out the already-engaged portion of the game's audience.
Last Guardian having a release date is almost surreal. Well, one of many surreal things I guess. It's a testament to how great Ico and SotC were that I'm still anticipating this game after all the waiting, I just hope my expectations aren't set too high to enjoy it.
Even though I'm not personally that excited for FFXV the VR trailer was pretty hilarious, both intentionally and not (how much of that footage was poorly-framed and/or looking at the ground).
And speaking of VR, my excitement for anything VR-related still plateaus at tepid. I've always had a general distaste for first-person games, and the fact that nobody wants to make a non-first-person VR game is a weakness of the product that I'm never going to be able to get over.
Naturally this distaste extends to RE7 as well, the direction of which kind of baffles me. It's one thing to try new things, it's another thing to strip out the identity and become a generic-looking version of something else. I haven't had such a strong "eugh" reaction since that Raccoon City shooter by the SOCOM devs. Yeah P. T. is no longer a thing, but that doesn't mean you can just give us a half-baked imitation to fill the void. Sadly VR is probably more at the heart of this move than any genuine desire to improve on Kojima's mindbuggery.
And speaking of Kojima that Death Stranding was certainly some interpretive art. As usual Kojima makes you wonder what the hell you're looking at and then later wonder why the hell that was so interesting.
I guess this has been a solid E3 and I'm interested in some games but nothing new really stood out as amazing or must-have. It definitely didn't reach the heights of last year's excitement, but at least it was reassuring to see the support for actual games on all fronts.
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| Maou 3160th Post
PSN: zonepharaoh
XBL: n/a
Wii: n/a
STM: n/a
CFN: zonepharaoh
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Wild Gun Arms Reloaded F" , posted Thu 16 Jun 06:02:
quote:
Wild Arms Reloaded
WHOAH. Did I miss something?! ;)
Someday I will learn the difference between those two games but today is not that day.
Ha, I did a double-take, too, but the reality is much better news. Handy tip for differentiating: one is an OG side-scroller with a fun aesethic of wild west sci-fi gun action, and the other is a derivative Estpolis/Lufia II RPG clone with a strangely familiar aesthetic of wild west sci-fi gun action...taken from Wild Guns?! Hey, wait a minute, they stole even more than I thought!
quote:
It's outside the scope of this thread (and I don't want to risk receiving a penalty flag from Maou for being off topic) but I've been having quite a surprisingly good time with the first Suikoden this week! I'll take that discussion elsewhere though.
MISTER KARASU YOU ARE OFF-TOPIC please enjoy this exciting living penguin cyborg born of the Empire and 3D printers
Actually, Gensou Suikoden is always a legit topic, and this is the random AND E3 thread anyway! I'm pretty sure I was just talking with Maese the other day about how the first one is his favorite even if the second one is most beloved.
ALSO: No comment on Bloodstained? I know you secretly bought the super deluxe 100 gold fundraising edition to serve our lord Dracula, even if we secretly also know that our real lord is Hagihara Tooru and not Igarashi but anyway
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 16 Jun 06:22] |
| karasu 1612th Post
PSN: robotchris
XBL: robotchris
Wii: n/a
STM: n/a
CFN: n/a
Red Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member
| "Re(1):Wild Gun Arms Reloaded F" , posted Thu 16 Jun 06:50
quote:
It's outside the scope of this thread (and I don't want to risk receiving a penalty flag from Maou for being off topic) but I've been having quite a surprisingly good time with the first Suikoden this week! I'll take that discussion elsewhere though.
MISTER KARASU YOU ARE OFF-TOPIC please enjoy this exciting living penguin cyborg born of the Empire and 3D printers
Good heavens, that's adorable! I accept my punishment! It won't happen again! But since I've already received my かわいい demerit, I may as well continue for a bit...
quote:
Actually, Gensou Suikoden is always a legit topic, and this is the random AND E3 thread anyway! I'm pretty sure I was just talking with Maese the other day about how the first one is his favorite even if the second one is most beloved.
I've yet to play the second, even though I've owned it for quite some time. But my expectations are quite high! I'll have to look up that discussion with Maese and come up to speed. In short, I'm finding that the first game brings back all kinds of amazing feels from the early years of the PS1. Although-- I AM heartily disappointed that on the PSN the cover used is the restrained EU one and not the Nostalgic Wonder of the US version cover. Could it be that someone at Sony couldn't in good conscience let the pall of that cover fall across a new generation of players?
quote:
ALSO: No comment on Bloodstained? I know you secretly bought the super deluxe 100 gold fundraising edition to serve our lord Dracula, even if we secretly also know that our real lord is Hagihara Tooru and not Igarashi but anyway
Topics pass by so quickly in random threads that I must have just missed it! I was a backer, but at the 'participate in the summoning of our Dark Lord back to Earth level' average level, not the super crazy one! I'm at a funny place with the game though-- I thought sure that if anyone could innovate with this sort of game (especially given the mad new direction he took in Order of Ecclesia) it would be Igarashi, but the new footage confirms that when given the opportunity to do something original or groundbreaking, he just stood tall and did just enough to not make a 100% carbon copy of his previous efforts.
I can't say I blame him, given that most of the project's backers would probably flip shit if you couldn't destroy candles/lanterns, or if when you did, items didn't come out of them. It's unfortunate too, since the genre has so much room for different things to be experimented with. Sorry for the rant, haha! Like the shameless servant of the Dark Lord and Master that I am, Ill play the game with relish once it actually comes out!
You have to carefully reproduce the world of "Castlevania" in the solemn atmosphere.
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| Spoon 3409th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(3): The Long Dark Zelda of the Soul" , posted Thu 16 Jun 09:29:
quote:
...I take it no one here in MMCafe likes this new direction Zelda is going?
I don't know where you're getting this idea from! There's only one skeptical opinion (Iggy's) here!
There is admittedly not much discussion about it. I wouldn't take that as evidence of negativity about it, though.
I think it looks awesome. It seriously looks like Zelda Tactical Espionage Action when it comes to taking on the enemy encampments. The environments and creatures look terrific, the ability to combine the mechanics looks great... really, the only negative I have to say about it is that in the footage shown it does seem like there can be quite long distances between points of interest, which is fine when I'm feeling wistful but sometimes feels a little lonely even for a Zelda game. Overall I'm extremely impressed, probably the most impressed I've been with a Zelda just by previews since OoT.
Calling it "Souls-esque" is kind of weird, given that 8-bit Zelda was one of the console exemplars of action-adventure with limited open exploration with minimal in-game direction, lots of secrets, minimal text, etc. This Zelda seems much more open than any Souls game (especially the recent DS3), and more open even than the classic Zeldas judging by some of Aonuma's remarks.
I'm definitely getting this when it's released, but I don't know if I'll be getting it on WiiU or NX.
I had a long-running speculation about how Zelda and MGS evolved and how they might've influenced each other, but that's a whole nother thing.
[this message was edited by Spoon on Thu 16 Jun 09:33] |
| Mosquiton 2178th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(4): The Long Dark Zelda of the Soul" , posted Thu 16 Jun 10:01:
quote:
...I take it no one here in MMCafe likes this new direction Zelda is going?
I don't know where you're getting this idea from! There's only one skeptical opinion (Iggy's) here!
If you scroll up a bit you can see me saying that I dig it, and asking if anyone saw the shield surfing?
SO DID YOU SEE THE SHIELD SURFING???
Having enjoyable ways to move around the environment is absolutely essential in open world games, or any game when you have to cover a lot of ground. To me, it's hugely important. The shield-riding, horse riding, and gliding look like they will serve that purpose well. Many of my favorite games from Capcom (and Platinum, and yeah Clover as well hmm) understand this. I wish everyone understood this!
I'm really liking what I see so far. I'm sure I'll play it, so I will likely not follow it too closely from here on out. Not like media-blackout plugging my ears whenever someone mentions it, but I'll be happy to encounter a few surprises when I actually play it.
The one thing I'd like to see that I'm not seeing is more non-violent ways to resolve problems... but I guess there's just no reasoning with bokoblins.
EDIT: Also, Spoon, I did get your weird combo Zelda/Dark Souls/Douglas Adams title reference.
Your horoscope: Virtually everything you decide today will be wrong.
Also, Dark Souls already had a lot in common with NES Zelda. There's no one-way evolution in games. SNK looks at Capcom that looks at SNK. Uncharted looks at Tomb Raider that looks at Uncharted. Souls looks at Zelda which looks at MGS which looks at Zelda which Dragon's Dogma was looking at even though it seemed to be looking at Skyrim but was actually looking past it to Zelda but couldn't help but see Skyrim in the corner of its eye, and as it happened Souls was standing right next to Zelda but then Souls glanced toward Nioh because Nioh was staring very intently at Souls (and Souls could feel the heat of the stare on the back of its neck) which has, all this time, been looking into your soul, and on and on, unto infinity.
/ / /
[this message was edited by Mosquiton on Thu 16 Jun 10:23] |
| Spoon 3410th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(6): The Long Dark Zelda of the Soul" , posted Thu 16 Jun 12:56:
quote:
OoT changed the game and not for better
quote:
What is a puzzle? Not a miserable pile of secrets!
One of the things I really disliked about OoT and many 3D adventure games is what I called "key puzzles" where the only puzzle is either whether or not you have the right key piece to rub on the lock, or whether or not you perform some interaction that is otherwise wholly disconnected with how the rest of the game works (like, i dunno, picking a lock?) in order to open the way to the next thing.
This is one thing which non-video-game players like my parents intuitively understood, but couldn't really articulate. They didn't find any of the puzzles in many games they saw me playing as "clever". The animations/music/presentation once the puzzle was solved could be delightful, but the actual act of solving the "puzzle" was not something that they could appreciate.
And this is why Solomon's Key is one of the very best games ever made on any system.
Solomon's Key is BRILLIANT, and it is one of the few puzzle games which my dad appreciates. In fact, he decries almost every game I've played in front of him since then as being a lesser game because it doesn't seem to require the "strategy" or "tactics" of Solomon's Key. Solomon's Key is a game in which every puzzle exists and is solved through the core PLATFORMING mechanics of the game. Every enemy has rules that it obeys within this context, rules that you can learn by observing (which makes them seem weirdly alive!). Enemies are part of the puzzle, as opposed to just things that you kill. Some of the puzzles can be solved by deft platforming, some can be brute forced by using consumable items to blow away the puzzle elements which happen to be enemies, and some simply cannot be beaten without a strategy. The game has whole levels where enemies are segregated from the player to give the player a chance to observe their behaviour, and then release them through the regular platforming mechanics of the game. The presentation of the game is CRYSTAL CLEAR: every stage starts completely black, showing just the door and a key, and the player's position is introduced by a converging ring of stars. You know right away what to look at, and what you need to get. (fact fixing edit)
Solomon's Key also has multiple endings.
Solomon's Key had a much less good sequel called Fire and Ice, in which the solutions to puzzles tended to be very rigid, the rules which you obeyed, though consistent, were not as simple and as intuitive as the platforming rules of Solomon's Key, and the puzzle design largely was just about static elements (removing the brilliant, mysterious, and lively element of observing and taming enemies). Fire and Ice is a harder puzzle game: the configurations and solutions to the puzzles are complex. Fire and Ice has bigger, better animated sprites. But in pursuing the angle of challenging but highly specific puzzles that exist in the context of a highly rigid ruleset that may as well be turn-based, it loses the unique combination of puzzles that exist whole cloth in an intuitive real-time action platforming environment. Fire and Ice is a harder game to understand and to like. Fire and Ice is an inferior game.
Solomon's Key is one of my favourite games ever. Solomon's Key is great.
There are a handful of doujin games which are Solomon's Key imitators, and I don't discount their heart in their mimicry. 20 years ago, I would've done that, too. But the ambition to take these delicious underlying aspects of the game's design and use them as lessons for new games would be a tall demand.
A lot of the sophisticated action games which I play these days have a tactical element to them, but when my dad sees them, he just sees "fighting". And to a certain extent, I agree: the beating of these games is mostly up to finesse. When too much can be done by finesse or by brute force, the sense of "puzzle" is lost.
I don't think that OoT is a game with no merit, even if some of what has come since OoT that has been emulated has been detrimental. In the context of history, LttP having a built-in map that gave you directions wasn't THAT bad. If you played games on the consoles back in the day, many games came bundled with maps to get you started. Some even came with more detailed info on how to get through it! But those maps didn't feel like "cheats" or game trivializers: to my mind then, they were like treasure maps. They were things that made you wonder about the world and the game and what else was in it. Who cares if there's an X on the map showing where a treasure is? The feeling of a map with an X on it wasn't a mandate that you must go there and never veer off the road, but a delightful thing that said "there's treasure here!" If the game didn't come with a map, you either had to memorize one or draw one. A game coming with a somewhat vague but beautiful map built-in enhanced the game to my childish mind.
And that's something which LttP had: Egoraptor says that the game just turned into being an errand boy, but the game was actually still quite beatable if you couldn't read a thing. Even though a map told you about treasure, you were free to not go straight there. You could wander off course and cut grass and look for holes to fall into. A lot of the tiles... you had no idea what interacted with them! You had key points on the map, but the map also never spelled out a path you had to take. I think that the notion of marks being put on a map being mental restrictions is something that actually grows as the gamer gets older. Of course, if the game literally doesn't let you walk off the path, then that's pretty restrictive, too!
In conclusion Solomon's Key kicks ass and you should all play it however you can. Play the Famicom or NES version. I like it more than the arcade one, because even though its color palette is more limited and harsher and has some weird cyans and bright oranges, it's more coherent than the arcade one, and in a game which I harp about internal consistency and coherence, I think that matters.
[this message was edited by Spoon on Thu 16 Jun 20:24] |
| Maese 811th Post
Red Carpet Regular Member+
| "Re(6):Suikostained" , posted Thu 16 Jun 17:15
So much interesting stuff to comment! Hell yeah, that's how I like my E3.
But first things first:
quote:
It's outside the scope of this thread (and I don't want to risk receiving a penalty flag from Maou for being off topic) but I've been having quite a surprisingly good time with the first Suikoden this week! I'll take that discussion elsewhere though.
Did anybody just said "Suikoden"? Because I'd swear I heard you guys talkin' about Suikoden. Fear not, my friend, Genso Suikoden is always on topic. And the only surprising thing here would have been NOT enjoying the game!
Now that you have played through 1, you should go ahead and threat yourself with 2, which is arguably the best in the series. I will always prefer the story, themes and setting of the first one, but I have to admit that the way they fleshed out the castle base system in 2 is way, way better, and the same can be said about character development in general. All in all, if you liked what you saw in 1 (as any educated person with sensibility and good taste would do), you will love 2 as well. But before I start selling you the greatness of Suikoden 3, perhaps we'd have better to open a "Classic RPG game of the week" thread, so we could talk at leisure!
However, if there is something even more important on the universe than Suikoden itself, that can only be...
quote:
... ZELDA (breathing wildly)
What can I say? So far I'm liking everything I see. All these changes and new features seem to me like steps on the right direction. I like the back-to-the-roots approach, and I welcome most of the new systems. Nintendo is borrowing many ideas gameplay-wise and art style-wise, sure, but I'd say they're borrowing from the right sources. I can feel very powerful Ico and Shadow of the Colossus vibes on this new Hyrule, and that can only be a good thing. Ueda's personal worlds always felt to me like some sort of alternative, decadent versions of Hyrule. It's just fitting that Nintendo is building back from that. God knows how things will shape up in the end but, judging from what we have seen so far, the game seems to have lots of potential. Same can be said about the story and the world itself.
I'm more worried about what I hear, though. The game's BGM feels underwhelming to say the least. Even if I can understand the reasoning behind toning down the music and giving more preeminence to FX sounds, this is another part where they would have been more than welcome to copy borrow from Ueda's games. The Legend of Zelda is an epic story; you need to convey that with a proper sound design. And what's up with the dubbing? Was it even necessary? Why does Zelda sound (because we all know that it's Zelda's voice what we're hearing) like a brothel skank with hangover from some random Game of Thrones episode? There's hope the Japanese dubbing won't suck so badly, but I would have much preferred the mangled, mumbo-jumbo language from Skyward Sword. That should have been more than enough.
All in all, damn you Nintendo. I managed to avoid buying a WiiU all these years, and now here I am. You did it again, god dammit. You always do. Sigh...
A Talking about Japanese History sword in hand
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| Iggy 10288th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P Requiem
| "Re(5): The Long Dark Zelda of the Soul" , posted Thu 16 Jun 20:04
quote:
There's only one skeptical opinion (Iggy's) here!
Well, I did say it looked pretty!
I'm currently torn between wanting it to be a stealth remake of Zelda 1 (no NPC except optional old dudes in caves, no towns, no artificial barriers) and the scary things they've talked about (weapon duration, of course there's going to be more NPCs, etc).
I still hope the vertical focus of the map comes from poaching the guy from Monolith that created the amazing XenoX world.
I don't like OoT, Twilight Princess or Skyward Sword, and Solomon's Key is one of those games I consider my duty to buy whenever it's available again (Wii, 3DS, WiiU). It's one of the great treasures of the NES and it deserves to be preserved forever. But for some reason, it always reminds me of the NES version of Boulder Dash (probably because I played them at the same time?) and how the NES version is never coming back even though it was the best one.
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| Spoon 3411th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(6): The Long Dark Zelda of the Soul" , posted Thu 16 Jun 20:40:
quote:
Solomon's Key is one of those games I consider my duty to buy whenever it's available again (Wii, 3DS, WiiU). It's one of the great treasures of the NES and it deserves to be preserved forever. But for some reason, it always reminds me of the NES version of Boulder Dash (probably because I played them at the same time?) and how the NES version is never coming back even though it was the best one.
Wow, that's even farther than I take it!
Solomon's Key is soooooooooooooo good.
I remember hitting the 3rd level of Solomon's Key and being filled with wonder at the sight of all these different creatures in their own little rooms. The first three levels of Solomon's Key are very brilliantly designed in guaranteeing that the player learns the key basic actions/elements of the game. You literally cannot beat those first few levels without pressing the buttons and learning the actions all on your own, as well as getting to observe enemy behaviours. Some of the enemy behaviours are contextual (e.g. the fire-breathing dragon/scorpion-things will stall movement once you are near), and those behaviours are discovered entirely through the course of playing. It makes the enemies feel much deeper and more alive by their behaviour than Mario enemies, in addition to many of them having their own unique ways of interacting with breakable level tiles.
Games like Stephen's Sausage Roll or The Witness are often getting compared to Dark Souls at the moment, but really more apt comparisons are with classics like Solomon's Key.
Also, I bagged really hard on Fire and Ice, which makes it sound like Fire and Ice is a bad game. It really isn't a bad game, at all. It's visually very appealing, with a color palette that is much cuter and generally more immediately charming. Its puzzles are well-crafted, including that need to learn the fundamental concepts of it very early, and its action->resolution scheme can be satisfying to watch and play. Most of all, it's pretty brave to make a sequel so radically different from its predecessor!
Fire and Ice is a good, even very good, game.
Solomon's Key just happens to be an utterly fantastic one.
[this message was edited by Spoon on Thu 16 Jun 20:51] |
| Spoon 3412th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(8): The Long Dark Zelda of the Soul" , posted Fri 17 Jun 04:38
quote:
Also, it's super cool that your dad was actually involved in your early gaming life and that he actually paid attention to game mechanics! Did he ever actually play any games himself? Sounds like maybe he was a great influence on you, getting you to think analytically about things and to be open to a lot of different experiences (from my experience you seem to give every game a fair shot, never disregarding any outright)
He never played games himself. Us playing Solomon's Key was me with the controller and him providing guidance/strategy.
I think that my larger appreciation for the value of what was in Solomon's Key didn't happen until much later. At the time when I played it, it just seemed like a really good, really enjoyable game. As for my dad, his ability to understand games wasn't actually godlike, and he didn't think about games with this game-mechanic ludological mindset. It was surface level stuff that he could grok: e.g. when he saw Mario 64, he said "Mario 64 seems like a slower game than Mario 3, it isn't as intense and exciting, and is more about exploring", but that reading of it is bang-on. He couldn't say anything about any given mechanic of the game, but just looking at it he could feel something about it and said what he felt. He isn't always right, either: RPGs are almost completely opaque to him, no matter which one they are (going all the way back to DQ1 and FF1!). But it's when I look at his opinions on things then and now and try to make sense of them that deeper insight can be found.
Fire and Ice had absolutely no resonance with him at all. I remember being really excited to get the game and feeling really underwhelmed with it when I played it. I _might_ be biased.
|
| Spoon 3413th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(10): The Long Dark Zelda of the Soul" , posted Fri 17 Jun 16:14
quote:
Zipang on the PC Engine? It's a very similar game.
"Similar" is maybe being a little generous to Zipang :D
Zipang
Solomon's Key
The stages are even organized by "Shrine" and astrological figures (Western ones in Solomon's Key, Eastern ones in Zipang).
All that said, the first level of Zipang is clever in that it forces you to immediately learn how to jump and break blocks and the difference between breakable and unbreakable blocks just to get out of the spot you start in! It's maybe a little harsh in how it does so, but it certainly is effective.
-----------------
Back on topic with Zelda, in spite of what nobi says about the game taking a style that seems blander when more carefully examined, the response to its visuals have been generally very positive. There are the usual technical complaints (low-res textures, pop/draw-in, seemingly small numbers of entities active, etc.), but none of those are stylistic complaints. I haven't finished any Zelda game newer than OoT, though I've taken a look at all of them... and I have to say, though the execution of the in-game art is never actually bad, and there are usually plenty of interesting character/environment designs in any given Zelda game, hasn't it seemed like the in-game art has always been far behind the concept art? I know that that's a common occurrence in every medium, but the difference between the way Skyward Sword looks in its illustrations and how it looks in-game (which is not bad at all!), seems quite vast.
I remember a long time ago somebody here said something about how Soul Calibur's 3D art for the longest time seems terribly inadequate against its 2D art.
I guess what I'm getting at is, aside from taking an approach as stylized and abstracted as Wind Waker, what could Nintendo do with its in-game realization of its concepts? What they have done seems to be so well-received that I think they're doing SOMETHING that resonates with people, even if it has flaws that become more apparent under scrutiny.
If you were to look at Overwatch, it draws heavily on the style of Pixar in how it looks in-game, and it does so very successfully. Some games have chosen to take a direction that's much more realistic, even with a lot of stylization. The Souls games certainly are in that category. Horizon is bent strongly towards detailed realism, and the new God of War even more so in spite of its otherwise fantastical context.
What visual direction could a 3D Zelda take that would feel right for Zelda? Even if what your heart says is "just make it look like those Terada drawings", how would you imagine executing the dynamic real-time 3D rendition of that?
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| Mosquiton 2180th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(2):Koei Berserk Caska Tentacle Rape Traile" , posted Sat 18 Jun 06:38:
quote:
This doesn't fills me with confidence.
AT ALL.
http://dengekionline.com/elem/000/001/297/1297725/
* They are taking inspiration from the anime series, old and new, and movies.
* The fans love Berserk for the ero/guro, and the game will reflect that.
Anime series, movies ... WHAT ABOUT THE ACTUAL MANGA????
Guro sure. Berserk is certainly known for the gore. But ero?? That's not the first or even the 5th thing I think of when I think of Berserk. And certainly not that particularly horrific scene with Caska. What the heck are they thinking??
I kind of have to ask... are you serious right now?
I would not want to be the defense attorney for the argument that Berserk is not particularly notable for dark and violent eroticism. It was always my impression that the anime (which I've seen) and the new movies (which I have not seen) are actually a somewhat sanitized version of the manga.
Disclosure: I have only read through the Millennium Empire arc... and I have not actually picked up the manga in more than 10 years. But this is the manga that actually really shocked me with its subject matter.
Imagine Miura was Beyonce, and the song "Formation" was about Berserk. It might go something like this:
Like Clive Bar-ker's Hellraiser, like that H. Bosch the painter
Mix that guro with that ero get a f*&^%$-up manga
Well, that's the metaphor I came up with anyway. Berserk is certainly a rich and amazing stew of different influences and original ideas. It's an impressive work for sure. But I'm sure you would agree there's no denying the Hellraiser influence (God Hand? Cenobites. Behelit? Puzzle Box). Just sprinkling some Hellraiser into your creative work is adding a mega-dose of bonded lust, gore, sex, and pain molecules that could not be separated no matter how long you stir. And since it was Miura who is selecting the ingredients, I think it's fair to say that this combination is something he's interested in personally.
/////////////////////////////////////////////
WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!
////////////////////////////////////////////
(and some pretty disturbing stuff in general, tbh)
The opening of the very first chapter of the manga dives right into these ideas. Speaking of inspirations, this one is straight from Conan the Barbarian, but that's not to say that Miura doesn't have any original ways of broaching this sort of material.
Just in the first few volumes, a certain Count's wife has gotten into an "evil" religion and is participating in wild orgies in honor of a Baphomet-like goat-man idol. (I have heard there is another orgiastic goat cult later, but I guess I hadn't read that far.) But anyway, the count slaughters the roomful of nude revelers and, standing in a sea of blood in front of his still-living wife, overcome by grief, he opens a rift to another dimension and accepts a bargain to be transformed into a hideous slug-like beast with no remorse, then proceeds to devour his wife with sharp-toothed, phallic appendages that sprout from his lower body.
And which member of the God Hand is most psyched about this? It's Slan!
Slan Trivia time!
1. What male generative organ is depicted on Slan's corset, which functions not to cover her skin but to accentuate her bare breasts?
Answer:
Spoiler (Highlight to view) -
What else could it be?
End of Spoiler
2. During the eclipse, Slan describes Griffith's violation of Casca as:
A. Gross
B. Problematic
C. Beautiful
Answer:
Spoiler (Highlight to view) -
Well it wasn't A or B...
End of Spoiler
3. Many chapters down the line, Slan later manifests her nude and voluptuous succubus form from a pile of viscera spilled from the bodies of a certain kind of beast that captures human women. The end result of these mass abductions are pregnancies that end like a famous scene from the movie Alien.
That certain type of beast, featured prominently throughout several chapters, are known as:
Answer:
Spoiler (Highlight to view) -
Trolls have never been more disgusting
End of Spoiler
4. When Slan manifests as a shapely pile of guts and grabs Guts, who is penetrated with what and how do they react?
Answer: It's like that!
BONUS WYALD TRIVIA QUESTIONS!
1. The Apostle Wyald's motto, translated as "Enjoyment and excitment" most likely refer to the following activities:
A. Drinking wine and playing cards
B. Collecting antique teacups and reading poetry
C. Indiscriminately raping and murdering people
D. Impaling the nude, dismembered bodies women and children on spears and carrying them around as trophies/to intimidate enemies
E. Both A and B
F. Both C and D
Answer:
Spoiler (Highlight to view) -
Why wasn't it E? It's F...
End of Spoiler
2. Wyald's gigantic ape-like monster apostle form has a mouth that's about waist level on the part of his body that still resembles a human.... it's got this tongue... and it's shaped like a... ermm... well I guess you could call it a "male flower"... or... uh, and when he picks up Casa he... oh jeez. Forget it.
ANSWER:
Spoiler (Highlight to view) -
Well he molests Casca with it but at least Guts chops it off pretty quickly
End of Spoiler
SUPER BONUS FARNESE QUESTION!
The manga depicts Farnese as:
A. A sadist
B. A masochist
C. The object of a possessed demon horse's ardent desire
D. All of the above
Answer:
Spoiler (Highlight to view) -
She's all that and more. I actually didn't know about the last one until recently.
End of Spoiler
Now, leaving aside our personal feelings on how all this is handled in the comic, or whether it adds/detracts/whatever from the sprawling story that's still nowhere near completion... should a Musou title focus on this kind of subject matter?
ARE THESE PEOPLE INSANE????????????????????????
I can't say that strikes me as a good idea AT ALL. Maybe it's just marketing. I would honestly expect that the game will ultimately be playing it pretty safe. I'm curious to see what they do with it.
/ / /
[this message was edited by Mosquiton on Sat 18 Jun 07:23] |
| Mosquiton 2181th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(4):Koei Berserk Caska Tentacle Rape Traile" , posted Sat 18 Jun 08:54:
quote:
Thanks for the list Mosquiton, I was actually having a similar conversation in parallel.
Basically, I fully support that sexuality in its most bestial aspect is one of the core aspects of Berserk (as with all the primal raw emotions), however this sexuality is so twisted and grotesque that I cannot imagine anyone seeing it as erotic. The Satanist orgy shows naked people fucking, but the setting and outcome are so gross that I don't think you could be comfortable having a boner reading that. Berserk's sexual moments remind me of the harshest pages written by Sade:
*many naked people having intercourse in ways God didn't intend
*severe deficit of mutual consent
*horrifying depiction of the darkest place in a man's psyche
*flaccid penis
I could understand how most 14 years olds would go nuts at any drawing of a nude woman (and there are many in Berserk, and they are beautifully rendered) but I had the feeling the readers of Berserk were much older than that (especially in 2016). Maybe I'm just being optimistic to think that as people grow older their libidos also mature?
Or is is again an issue with people (in that case, Koei Tecmo) not being able to differentiate nudity and porn?
Iggy, this is why I put in that "Now, leaving aside our personal feelings on how all this is handled in the comic" part. I am far from a scholar on this topic, but I guess I have to offer a few thoughts.
I'm definitely not implying all this is meant to be "sexy", but just by bringing up the Marquis de Sade example you've bringing up works that are considered to be both erotic and repulsive. But where does one draw the line? Are the harshest pages completely divorced from the other pages? Maybe it's the term "erotic" that's the issue here.
I don't think it's quite that easy to say that none of the sexual imagery or elements in Berserk are meant to be devoid of any erotic context or subtext.
Why does Miura show you Guts' dark thoughts toward Casca when he's wearing the dark armor? Why is Guts having these thoughts in the first place? Why is he blending desire and violence together?
To go back to the simplest example I can think of, let's be honest, is Slan only meant to be repulsive? If so, why would people cosplay as that character? Why would they draw fanart? When you look at Slan, then you look at Morrigan from Darkstalkers, what's the common link?
What I'm saying is I don't think Koei Tecmo can provide the definitive answers... but clearly they have laid their eyes on some landmarks and are going to have to find a path through somehow. As an action game.
Also... I'm not the only person who has seen Hellraiser, surely?
/ / /
[this message was edited by Mosquiton on Sat 18 Jun 09:04] |
| Maou 3163th Post
PSN: zonepharaoh
XBL: n/a
Wii: n/a
STM: n/a
CFN: zonepharaoh
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(4):Koei Final Fantasy Berserker" , posted Sat 18 Jun 09:01
quote:
Mosquiton explains Berserk
Woah. Thanks for the terrifying-yet-amusing description. I'm in the same boat as Iggy here, especially as regards gross-out outcomes of sex in Berserk. The closest match I can recall in something similarly mass-market is probably the Battle Royale comic---hooray for sex, but the horrifying violence that usually follows it leaves you feeling like you've seen something really depraved.
I believe I can tie Berserk into a games conversation via Final Fantasy VII: this all reminds me of many earlier observations on how the Cloud-Sephiroth dynamic is pretty obviously lifted from Berserk. I recall it being Nomura's doing, of course, which explains how the early script was shaped from a crack detective pursuing the protagonists across New York (I am not making this up) into a big sword-wielding protagonist pursuing a long-haired rival who'd become inhuman and pursues godhood, straight out of Berserk apparently. This also explains why one of many many reasons why VII is at the absolute bottom of my list from FF IV-XII is that the weird violence of the Jenova plotline always seemed so out of place. Of course it was, I was just playing a sanitized Berserk adaptation!
Which is all to say, if Koei manages to make another (partially) sanitized Berserk adaptation with Musou, maybe they will strike gold and have a hit like VII. ... ... ...nah, they're still nuts.
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．．．
|
| Mosquiton 2182th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(5):Koei Final Fantasy Berserker" , posted Sat 18 Jun 09:15:
quote:
Mosquiton explains Berserk Woah. Thanks for the terrifying-yet-amusing description. I'm in the same boat as Iggy here, especially as regards gross-out outcomes of sex in Berserk. The closest match I can recall in something similarly mass-market is probably the Battle Royale comic---hooray for sex, but the horrifying violence that usually follows it leaves you feeling like you've seen something really depraved.
I believe I can tie Berserk into a games conversation via Final Fantasy VII: this all reminds me of many earlier observations on how the Cloud-Sephiroth dynamic is pretty obviously lifted from Berserk. I recall it being Nomura's doing, of course, which explains how the early script was shaped from a crack detective pursuing the protagonists across New York (I am not making this up) into a big sword-wielding protagonist pursuing a long-haired rival who'd become inhuman and pursues godhood, straight out of Berserk apparently. This also explains why one of many many reasons why VII is at the absolute bottom of my list from FF IV-XII is that the weird violence of the Jenova plotline always seemed so out of place. Of course it was, I was just playing a sanitized Berserk adaptation!
Which is all to say, if Koei manages to make another (partially) sanitized Berserk adaptation with Musou, maybe they will strike gold and have a hit like VII. ... ... ...nah, they're still nuts.
Hah! That interpretation of FFVII has got to be dead on.
Anyways, I guess my final statement I want to make is that eroticism is defined by the individual... and some individuals have tastes that can seem quite strange!
Nomura for example... you have to wonder........
...
...
Well, zippers for a start.
/ / /
[this message was edited by Mosquiton on Sat 18 Jun 09:17] |
| Spoon 3414th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(5):Koei Final Fantasy Berserker" , posted Sat 18 Jun 09:28
quote:
guro/ero
Raw, animal desire and sexual symbolism is a huge part of Berserk, but whenever I hear the word "ero" from a Japanese source, that has always come in the context of titillation. Some of that certainly does exist in Berserk, but to me a much stronger element with regards to sexual imagery in Berserk is how it is used to express power. Behelit-consumers who are surrounded by naked women they have taken as tribute, vicious abusers in positions of power/authority, and so on.
Sexual abuse is a major thing in Berserk, and it is presented in all kinds of different and terrible ways. The abuse Guts suffers as a child is a deeply traumatic experience for him, and it is a major driver in turning him into an angry, suspicious, violent loner. Even some of the images of sexual assault have frames which can be considered erotic, but the response they are meant to elicit pretty much always include ones of fear (from the view of the victims and towards the grotesquerie on display) and anger (towards the perpetrators and the act). In one of the plot lines where there are "satanic" orgies, one of the characters is suffering from what is probably a sexually transmitted disease.
Sexual imagery and sex being major elements in Berserk is not the same as sex appeal as being a major element of in Berserk, which is a point I don't think the interview snippet gets across or understands.
|
| Mosquiton 2183th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(6):Koei Final Fantasy Berserker" , posted Sat 18 Jun 11:43:
quote:
guro/ero
Raw, animal desire and sexual symbolism is a huge part of Berserk, but whenever I hear the word "ero" from a Japanese source, that has always come in the context of titillation. Some of that certainly does exist in Berserk, but to me a much stronger element with regards to sexual imagery in Berserk is how it is used to express power. Behelit-consumers who are surrounded by naked women they have taken as tribute, vicious abusers in positions of power/authority, and so on.
Sexual abuse is a major thing in Berserk, and it is presented in all kinds of different and terrible ways. The abuse Guts suffers as a child is a deeply traumatic experience for him, and it is a major driver in turning him into an angry, suspicious, violent loner. Even some of the images of sexual assault have frames which can be considered erotic, but the response they are meant to elicit pretty much always include ones of fear (from the view of the victims and towards the grotesquerie on display) and anger (towards the perpetrators and the act). In one of the plot lines where there are "satanic" orgies, one of the characters is suffering from what is probably a sexually transmitted disease.
Sexual imagery and sex being major elements in Berserk is not the same as sex appeal as being a major element of in Berserk, which is a point I don't think the interview snippet gets across or understands.
I think this sums up the concerns we're all expressing really well. It's horrible to think of these elements being skewed and misinterpreted... partly because there's just so much to get wrong.
The "ero" comment in question just adds to the worries people have expressed after seeing the trailer. It makes it seem as though the people responsible for the game's direction are somehow perverting the original context and looking at a horrible and traumatic event as somehow "sexy," as something they can sell as an erotic and appealing. Personally, that bothers me.
But I really do think Berserk is dangerous to adapt partly because it can feel gratuitous. This is what I was trying to point out in my original gigantic trivia-style post. Maybe some of these scenes, or just the way they're framed and illustrated, don't line up perfectly with the intended meaning. Maybe some of them don't really serve the overall story that well. Sex appeal isn't the point, and ero may not constitute a major theme, but I don't think I'm reaching too far to suggest that it sneaks into the manga's aesthetic on a very regular basis.
The thing is, I don't have a direct mental link with the author here. Whatever he writes and draws, I have to interpret. Some of the context and meaning has to come from me. I'm sure the people working on this game are in the same situation... unless Koei has been hoarding Warriors profits for their unnanounced neural-link tech.
As for the actual game, I'm just hoping they don't screw it up I guess. I'd really enjoy playing another Berserk action game.
/ / /
[this message was edited by Mosquiton on Sat 18 Jun 12:07] |
| Spoon 3415th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(7):Koei Final Fantasy Berserker" , posted Sat 18 Jun 12:24
quote:
gratuitousness
Yeah, it'd be all too easy to trivialize Berserk.
It's actually altogether amazing that a major character element for Guts, who is the macho-est of macho loners, is that he is a rape survivor struggling with the not only the betrayal which caused his violation (being literally sold out by a person of authority/trust without his knowledge or consent), but that the only outlet he has for that trauma is violence and mistrust. He's a kid raised in a macho environment, and even though he gets his revenge on one of his abusers by literally murdering that man, the scars of that abuse stay with him.
I think it's an important parallel that when Griffith sacrifices the Hawks to the Behelit and Casska gets violated, Guts' rage towards it absolutely felt: literally nobody alive but him knows about what has happened to Guts in the past, and now Guts is powerless to stop it from happening to somebody he cares about. It's a maddening, infuriating moment for him! No wonder he's so angry and bitter all the time! And who's he going to talk to about it? Puck? No way.
And in the time after that, being put on the run from demons that endlessly trying to kill him, which isolates him even further. It's painful and tragic and terrible! His vendetta towards Griffith and against the demons being motivated not just by his thirst for revenge, but by his first-hand experiences of abuse is an incredibly powerful story that often gets lost when the "awesomeness" of Berserk is discussed. And when that moment of Casska getting taken by the demons is sold as a "sexy" moment... I don't know, it undermines that story.
Admittedly, people don't play Musou games for tear-jerkers about overcoming abuse, so I can't say it's a totally tone-deaf marketing move. It's just one I can't get behind as a fan of the series.
|
| Mosquiton 2184th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(8):Koei Final Fantasy Berserker" , posted Sat 18 Jun 13:29:
quote:
gratuitousness
Yeah, it'd be all too easy to trivialize Berserk.
It's actually altogether amazing that a major character element for Guts, who is the macho-est of macho loners, is that he is a rape survivor struggling with the not only the betrayal which caused his violation (being literally sold out by a person of authority/trust without his knowledge or consent), but that the only outlet he has for that trauma is violence and mistrust. He's a kid raised in a macho environment, and even though he gets his revenge on one of his abusers by literally murdering that man, the scars of that abuse stay with him.
I think it's an important parallel that when Griffith sacrifices the Hawks to the Behelit and Casska gets violated, Guts' rage towards it absolutely felt: literally nobody alive but him knows about what has happened to Guts in the past, and now Guts is powerless to stop it from happening to somebody he cares about. It's a maddening, infuriating moment for him! No wonder he's so angry and bitter all the time! And who's he going to talk to about it? Puck? No way.
And in the time after that, being put on the run from demons that endlessly trying to kill him, which isolates him even further. It's painful and tragic and terrible! His vendetta towards Griffith and against the demons being motivated not just by his thirst for revenge, but by his first-hand experiences of abuse is an incredibly powerful story that often gets lost when the "awesom
-- Message too long, Autoquote has been Snipped --
Very well put. This really gets right to the heart of it. It can be downright painful to see someone take what feels like the exact wrong messages from something. The older anime is a horrible thing to recommend to anyone who isn't already familiar with Berserk for this reason... plenty of fans take issue with it as well. I actually enjoyed seeing the story told in this way, but I knew what was left unsaid and how the story would continue into the future. If you don't have those extra puzzle pieces, you have one horribly grim and ugly picture. I remember Iggy really loathes that adaptation for failing to include what really are vital elements of the story.
It's tough if you are talking to someone who has seen it and they are just thoroughly disgusted and take it to have no meaning at all. The concluding events are truly horrific and hard to watch. They might think you are a horrible for liking Berserk in the first place.
But it's even worse if they think it "Whoa, that ending was so cool and hardcore," and they assume that you must like it so much only for the same reasons they do. Maybe they empathize with Griffith a little too much (so many villains and anti-heroes have this problem). Maybe they assume you are really into suffering, death, violence, and killing... or worse, that you might callously enjoy seeing seeing people dominated and degraded. Saying that Berserk is loaded subject matter really is an understatement.
Man, I have said a lot on this and won't post anything else for the time being, but I always get pulled into Berserk discussions. Maybe I will have more to say when we learn more about the game. Or maybe I'll just pretend it doesn't exist!
/ / /
[this message was edited by Mosquiton on Sat 18 Jun 14:08] |
| Lord SNK
155th Post
Regular Customer
| "Solomon's Key" , posted Sat 18 Jun 17:40
Sorry, I would not like to interrupt this beautiful discussion about Berserk to which I can't contribute anything (I only watched the old anime and didn't like it too much, also knowing that Miura enjoy much more playing with Idolmasters than working toward finishing the manga anytime soon I'm not encouraged to start reading it).
I need to ask something the previous main argument of this discussion, Solomon's Key:
quote:
In conclusion Solomon's Key kicks ass and you should all play it however you can. Play the Famicom or NES version. I like it more than the arcade one, because even though its color palette is more limited and harsher and has some weird cyans and bright oranges, it's more coherent than the arcade one, and in a game which I harp about internal consistency and coherence, I think that matters.
Spoon, why the NES/Famicom version is better / more coherent than the arcade version?
Does it have levels designed differently?
I never played it, but now I'm curious and if I have the chance I would play it.
|
| Spoon 3416th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(1):Solomon's Key" , posted Sat 18 Jun 18:13
quote:
Spoon, why the NES/Famicom version is better / more coherent than the arcade version?
Does it have levels designed differently?
I never played it, but now I'm curious and if I have the chance I would play it.
Hahaha, no the reason is a really stupid and silly personal one.
The arcade one has a lot more colors in it. The NES/FC one has a lot fewer. This means that the backgrounds and enemies and such are more colorful and different looking and have more detail, but I don't actually think it makes the game "better". The NES/FC one has enemies that are bizarre cyan/pink/orange colors, and backgrounds that are much simpler and have less variety. Somehow, the reduction in variety doesn't hurt the game. It also resulted in some funny redesigns of some of the enemies: one of the first enemies you encounter in the game in the NES/FC version looks like a guy wearing big boxing gloves, and when he runs after you he's windmilling his arms! In the Arcade one, he's a green dude who zooms forward with his arms outstretched like a zombie. I can totally see somebody looking at the arcade one and feeling that it looks better, though.
The levels are largely the same, the controls are the same, the music has some of the same melody but has notable additions in the NES/FC version as well as some different sound effects. I actually think the NES/FC game is better sounding than the arcade one!
A relatively deviant version that you can try as a curiosity is Monster Rancher Explorer on the GBC, which has substantially different music and level layouts, including levels that scroll! The core game mechanics are the same.
In any case, go play Solomon's Key!
|
| Lord SNK
156th Post
Regular Customer
| "Re(2):Solomon's Key" , posted Sat 18 Jun 19:03
quote:
Hahaha, no the reason is a really stupid and silly personal one.
The arcade one has a lot more colors in it. The NES/FC one has a lot fewer. This means that the backgrounds and enemies and such are more colorful and different looking and have more detail, but I don't actually think it makes the game "better". The NES/FC one has enemies that are bizarre cyan/pink/orange colors, and backgrounds that are much simpler and have less variety. Somehow, the reduction in variety doesn't hurt the game. It also resulted in some funny redesigns of some of the enemies: one of the first enemies you encounter in the game in the NES/FC version looks like a guy wearing big boxing gloves, and when he runs after you he's windmilling his arms! In the Arcade one, he's a green dude who zooms forward with his arms outstretched like a zombie. I can totally see somebody looking at the arcade one and feeling that it looks better, though.
The levels are largely the same, the controls are the same, the music has some of the same melody but has notable additions in the NES/FC version as well as some different sound effects. I actually think the NES/FC game is better sounding than the arcade one!
A relatively deviant version that you can try as a curiosity is Monste
-- Message too long, Autoquote has been Snipped --
Thanks for the explanation!
|
| Spoon 3418th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(3):Solomon's Key is Judging You" , posted Sun 19 Jun 19:10
Oh, I also forgot about one of the weirdest new features of the NES/FC versions of Solomon's Key! I forgot it because even when I played it, I had NO CLUE WHAT IT MEANT!
So you have a score that is accrued by picking up point items and cashing in the timer at the end of a level. But when you game over, you get a "GDV" rating. This "GDV" rating is meant to be like a "Stylish" rating: are you playing the game "well". The problem with it was that it was utterly inscrutable. I didn't have a manual, so I didn't even know what "GDV" stood for! And it certainly didn't match with the level number, or my point score, and it wasn't a password... who knew what it was!
To this day, on the internet there is no English language documentation on exactly how this score is calculated as far as I know. It doesn't even start at zero! The minimum score you can get is 47! It will take either romhacking or a JP language resource to figure it out.
But the idea of the GDV, of there being a way to judge your performance that wasn't merely your regular points, was far, far ahead of its time with respect to video games. Some games like Zanac did this in an indirect fashion, by increasing the difficulty/quantity of enemies with your performance. In Zanac, this has a sort of stratifying effect where doing well leads to more enemies which leads to a higher score, and so long as you don't die, you can stay in that upper bracket of higher enemy density and thus get a higher score. So you could say that looking at a really high score in Zanac corresponds to "wow, that guy really didn't die at all!" Whereas looking at a high GDV score in Solomon's Key leaves you going "well, I guess he played well?"
|
| Mosquiton 2185th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Solomon's Eggplant is Judging You" , posted Mon 20 Jun 04:40:
quote:
Oh, I also forgot about one of the weirdest new features of the NES/FC versions of Solomon's Key! I forgot it because even when I played it, I had NO CLUE WHAT IT MEANT!
So you have a score that is accrued by picking up point items and cashing in the timer at the end of a level. But when you game over, you get a "GDV" rating. This "GDV" rating is meant to be like a "Stylish" rating: are you playing the game "well". The problem with it was that it was utterly inscrutable. I didn't have a manual, so I didn't even know what "GDV" stood for! And it certainly didn't match with the level number, or my point score, and it wasn't a password... who knew what it was!
To this day, on the internet there is no English language documentation on exactly how this score is calculated as far as I know. It doesn't even start at zero! The minimum score you can get is 47! It will take either romhacking or a JP language resource to figure it out.
But the idea of the GDV, of there being a way to judge your performance that wasn't merely your regular points, was far, far ahead of its time with respect to video games. Some games like Zanac did this in an indirect fashion, by increasing the difficulty/quantity of enemies with your performance. In Zanac, this has a sort of stratifying effect where doing well leads to more enemies which leads to a higher score, and so long as you don't die, you can stay in that upper bracket of higher enemy density and thus get a higher score. So you cou
-- Message too long, Autoquote has been Snipped --
This reminds me of the crazy math involved with upgrading your shot power in Kid Icarus. People did things a little differently back in 1986!
From GameFaqs:
"To get a Strength upgrade in a given stage, you must have at least 10000
Skill. Thankfully you cannot have a negative Skill value. These things affect
your Skill:
-300 for taking damage, except for damage tiles like lava
-10 for firing an arrow
-500 for breaking a pitcher in the Treasure chamber
+300 for entering a Holy chamber
+100 for defeating an enemy that drops a small heart
+300 for defeating an enemy that drops a half heart
+500 for defeating an enemy that drops a big heart
+100 for collecting a small heart (if you have less than 998)
+300 for collecting a half heart (if you have less than 994)
+500 for collecting a big heart (if you have less than 989)
+100 for collecting a mallet
+1000 for collecting or buying back a Weapon
+100 for buying anything in a shop except a chalice or Weapon
+300 for entering the Score tally screen (redundant)
+8000 for killing a boss (redundant)
Note that some enemies are special - if they don't give you any Score, they
don't give you any Skill either. Damaging Medusa also doesn't affect your
Skill, eventhough it gives you Score.
If you successfully raid a Treasure chamber, you'll lose 1480 Skill. However,
at the start of stage 2-2 you start out with 0 Skill, so you actually gain
2300 there. Also note that you only need 9700 Skill prior to entering the
upgrade chamber, as entering it gives you 300."
So getting knocked around and firing arrows carelessly without hitting enemies will not earn you the favor of the gods... which means no arrow upgrades for you! The game never tells you any of this, so this is all reverse-engineered by fans. Your maximum health in the game is based on your score, but there's less math involved.
I wonder if Solomon's Key has a similar system of adding and deducting points? Also, I do want to say that this discussion motivated me to play the first five levels of Solomon's Key. Thanks for that. A very charming game.
To tell the truth though I am not a big fan of Kid Icarus and I only found out about this through a friend. He doesn't like the game that much either. Really interesting, though.
/ / /
[this message was edited by Mosquiton on Mon 20 Jun 04:45] |
| Spoon 3419th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(2):So Everybody is Judging MN9" , posted Tue 21 Jun 04:07
quote:
Kid Icarus is a fantastic game and one of the two pillars of my early childhood along with Rockman. No disparaging shall be allowed in my presence.
The inclusion of Pit in Smash was the reason I bought a Wii, Rockman's the reason I bought a WiiU.
Unfortunately, I still don't like Smash.
Speaking of Rockman, MN9 reviews are out and they are not kind. Metacritic average is 61, so the general opinion is that it is mediocre, unimpressive, and a disappointment.
I wasn't terribly enthused with the MN9 project at the outset, but I expected at least a decent MM clone. I don't even know if I'm disappointed, since I wasn't really invested in the project.
I will say that between Stardew Valley, Shovel Knight, and more, I actually think that there are dedicated Western fans that get what made these games tick better even than the property holders today do.
|
| nobinobita 1626th Post
Tailored Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member
| "Re(3):So Everybody is Judging MN9" , posted Tue 21 Jun 13:49:
quote:
Kid Icarus is a fantastic game and one of the two pillars of my early childhood along with Rockman. No disparaging shall be allowed in my presence.
The inclusion of Pit in Smash was the reason I bought a Wii, Rockman's the reason I bought a WiiU.
Unfortunately, I still don't like Smash.
Speaking of Rockman, MN9 reviews are out and they are not kind. Metacritic average is 61, so the general opinion is that it is mediocre, unimpressive, and a disappointment.
I wasn't terribly enthused with the MN9 project at the outset, but I expected at least a decent MM clone. I don't even know if I'm disappointed, since I wasn't really invested in the project.
I will say that between Stardew Valley, Shovel Knight, and more, I actually think that there are dedicated Western fans that get what made these games tick better even than the property holders today do.
I backed MN9 years ago, early on in a fit of delirium. What got me was that Inafune, at least initially, had changed his tune from "Japanese games suck! You are right to hate them! (except mine give me money!)" to "I want to go back to my roots and show the world what's great about Japanese games." They even got a good developer in Inti Creates (who I've been a fan of since Speed Power Gunbike)
But shortly after the Kickstarter campaign ended, Inafune went back to his usual shucking and jiving bout how Japan sucks, pls America give me more money.
Moreover, cracks quickly appeared in their game development process. They relied way way wayyy too much on fan feedback for everything. Inti Creates already has a very distinct, appealing house style to both their art direction and gameplay. Their Megaman Zero games were probably the last Megaman games anyone cared about. And in terms of aesthetics, I would argue that the evolution of the cartoony Megaman mecha style goes:
Astro Boy --> Mega Man --> Mega Man X --> Mega Man Zero --> Most Megaman clones/homages today.
Instead of trusting their art team to follow their instincts and make the best game they could, they turned everything over to the fans. There was a lot of voting for new character designs and mechanics. I think some fans were even encouraged to submit their own character designs. The way they did it is a far cry from MegaMan having a VERY STRONG existing aesthetic and then having a fan art contest to design a boss or two. They were asking fans to make fundemental decisions about the game from the concept phase. On paper this sounds good, but in practice it was probably no different than working at a big corporation and having an army of managers give feedback on art and gameplay at every step of production.
I am confident in this assesment when I compare the early footage of MM9 to the final product.
This was the initial visualization test, made in a single week to test out of the Unreal Engine was right for them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UXDiQrgI6M
It is very solid. It looks like a finished game.
This is the final game:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbrXRqGwI10
It's a soulless mess. There is no visual consistency. No palpable style to the game. The characters are overanimated. The designs look very watered down and bloodless. The colors have little direction and rely too much on realtime lighting. The characters are difficult to distinguish from the backgrounds. The explosions look unfinished. The whole thing feels like a Unity Demo. Like it was cobbled together from assets from the Unity store.
Think about that. What they made in a single week looks way better than what they made in nearly 3 years.
I was a fool to back this project (I am embarassed to admit that I gave them over $100 too). I'm also sad that the first Studio 4C Kickstarter, Red Ash is a partnership with Comcept, as they've already demonstrated their ability to take an amazing development team and make them do terrible work well below their standards. I've been a lot more careful with what I back ever since. This is probably the most buyers remorse Ive ever felt with a game.
I wonder what Capcom will take away from all this. On the one hand they can sit back and laugh "SEE? Its not easy to make a Megaman game is it??"
On the other hand, if they just followed MN9 up with a halfway decent 2d platformer, that will look really great in comparison. Hell they could even hire Inti Creates to do it!
www.art-eater.com
[this message was edited by nobinobita on Tue 21 Jun 13:59] |
| nobinobita 1627th Post
Tailored Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member
| "Residential Evil 7" , posted Tue 21 Jun 14:14:
quote:
An investigative, non-actiony Resident Evil? With a playable demo already available now?
Played the RE7 Demo over the weekend. It starts off strong and has some nice ideas (like what happens when you put the tape in the VCR), but really fizzles out at the end.
Spoiler Alert:
Spoiler (Highlight to view) -
THE DEMO DOESNT EVEN HAVE A SINGLE ZOMBIE IN IT. The big reveal is a well spoken dirty homeless looking man. I know they are going for a Texas Chainsaw / The Hills Have Eyes vibe, but RE4 already did that in a much more engaging way.
End of Spoiler
They obviously took a ton of inspiration from PT, but they did not create anything near that level.
I feel like games really are just movies now. Everything in the RE7 Demo was made to feel realistic. From the environments to the people, who actually felt like real people I have interacted with before in real life. That's cool and it takes some skill to convey that, but the demo is also sadly lacking in anything fantastic or even just stylized in an interesting way. I guess it was inevitable that games would eventually come to this? This is why I never looked forward to VR finally catching on, because it will result in the most literal, unstylized, unabstracted games the world has ever known.
www.art-eater.com
[this message was edited by nobinobita on Tue 21 Jun 14:18] |
| Maou 3164th Post
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Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(1):Residential Nobi 7" , posted Tue 21 Jun 14:24
quote:
I feel like games really are just movies now. Everything in the RE7 Demo was made to feel realistic. From the environments to the people, who actually felt like real people I have interacted with before in real life. That's cool and it takes some skill to convey that, but the demo is also sadly lacking in anything fantastic or even just stylized in an interesting way. I guess it was inevitable that games would eventually come to this? This is why I never looked forward to VR finally catching on, because it will result in the most literal, unstylized, unabstracted games the world has ever known.
It makes it interesting to think back to the original Shenmue, which combined a vaguely Virtua Fighter-looking aesthetic with the most realistic game world anyone had ever seen at that point. Shenmue was "virtual reality" (assuming your reality was Japan in the 1980's) to a greater extent than had ever been seen with its extraordinary attention to detail, with every aspect of a Japanese house or neighborhood in place (the way the lights flicker when you turn them on in your room, the tangerine case in the closet, the shop facades where gachapon machines are set out, and so much more). Ironically, today's tech, VR included, can make incredibly "realistic-looking" worlds that are NOT "realistic-feeling." The skill to fill these virtual worlds with something compelling or artistic that would draw you into them for a sense of reality or immersion still takes a special skill. High-res graphics or VR are still crutches, and the dumb VR games you stumble around in now will look as pointless and backward ten years from now as all the sad sad "cutting edge" 3D platformers on PS1 do now.
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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| nobinobita 1627th Post
Tailored Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member
| "Re(2):Residential Nobi 7" , posted Tue 21 Jun 14:33
quote:
I feel like games really are just movies now. Everything in the RE7 Demo was made to feel realistic. From the environments to the people, who actually felt like real people I have interacted with before in real life. That's cool and it takes some skill to convey that, but the demo is also sadly lacking in anything fantastic or even just stylized in an interesting way. I guess it was inevitable that games would eventually come to this? This is why I never looked forward to VR finally catching on, because it will result in the most literal, unstylized, unabstracted games the world has ever known.
It makes it interesting to think back to the original Shenmue, which combined a vaguely Virtua Fighter-looking aesthetic with the most realistic game world anyone had ever seen at that point. Shenmue was "virtual reality" (assuming your reality was Japan in the 1980's) to a greater extent than had ever been seen with its extraordinary attention to detail, with every aspect of a Japanese house or neighborhood in place (the way the lights flicker when you turn them on in your room, the tangerine case in the closet, the shop facades where gachapon machines are set out, and so much more). Ironically, today's tech, VR included, can make incredibly "realistic-looking" worlds that are NOT "realistic-feeling." The skill to fill these virtual worlds with something compelling or artistic that would draw you into them for a sense of reality or immersion still takes a spec
-- Message too long, Autoquote has been Snipped --
Maou I agree with you 1000%, but I also have to undermine everything we've just said by pointing out that if there's one game that was ever meant for VR it's Jumping Flash!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRD5whY9Hs0
www.art-eater.com
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| Spoon 3420th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(1):Residential Evil 7" , posted Tue 21 Jun 14:47
quote:
I feel like games really are just movies now. Everything in the RE7 Demo was made to feel realistic. From the environments to the people, who actually felt like real people I have interacted with before in real life. That's cool and it takes some skill to convey that, but the demo is also sadly lacking in anything fantastic or even just stylized in an interesting way. I guess it was inevitable that games would eventually come to this? This is why I never looked forward to VR finally catching on, because it will result in the most literal, unstylized, unabstracted games the world has ever known.
All that said, the push for hyper-realism and movie-like qualities that Kojima has been making since his very first games manages to bring to fruition some of the most video-gamey games around that still are packed with cinema sensibilities. I'm not going to fault him for doing what he's going to be doing and has been doing for literally decades.
VR is almost certainly going to give us the most awesome cockpit-view space ship/mecha shooters ever, though, so I can only fault it so much. For all the misgivings I have about playing FPS games, I sincerely think that the greatest Assault Suits Valken game never made will be possible in VR.
Just give it some time.
Worst case scenario we're going to see the weirdest, strangest, most-fever dream porn ever created.
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| Spoon 3421th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(5):Residential Nobi 7" , posted Tue 21 Jun 20:10
quote:
Two points...
On RE7: I feel like with this current direction RE has lost what little remains of its identity. Back when it was a fixed-angle third-person action-adventure (whew) it was pretty damn unique in spite of some flaws. Then it somehow morphed into an over-the-shoulder shooter, which was certainly less unique, and now this. Rather than taking a logical evolutionary step this feels more like Capcom cashing in on a new trend and using their hottest IP for the job. God, there's only been like 3 so far and yet "First-Person VR Horror" somehow already feels like such a huge cliche.
I'm going to say that that appraisal is quite ironic, because Resident Evil's original incarnation as a fixed-camera survival horror game was heavily modeled after the Alone In The Dark games, with the biggest irony of all that Alone In The Dark 2 added a lot more gun combat and was widely criticized for it. Fixed-camera adventure games weren't at all uncommon through the late 90s.
When Resident Evil 4 came out, it redefined 3rd person action gaming, and set the standard for later games in the genre. One thing it certainly continued was what RE1 and RE2 did, which was taking an existing genre and just doing it better than anybody else did while combining it with a horror theme/setting. If successive RE games didn't follow in the footsteps of the frankly milestone achievement that is RE4, that would be quite a bit weirder!
If anything, RE6's return to stealing heavily from existing games marked a return to RE's design roots, a trend continued by RE7. At least RE7 isn't stealing from a game (namely, Gears of War) that was heavily inspired gameplay-wise by an RE game (namely, RE4).
My real hope is that RE7 doesn't veer too far in the direction of small-scale highly grounded horror. That's one thing that RE has never been about. RE has always pushed for a very high degree of realism and fidelity in its visuals, and gory visual horror has always been a central part of it, but its sci-fi angle is more readily captured in its Japanese name (Biohazard) than its English name (Resident Evil).
I think the bigger danger with a highly cinematic VR Resident Evil just from the demo is that while it has "horror" and even "dramatic horror" (as RE6 was labelled by Capcom), it might not have "survival horror". The notion of needing to survive through this lengthy horrific place, not just narratively, but through the mechanics of the game, was the notion that held everything together. PT, as horrific and dramatic as it is, has no such notions. And that's not to PT's detriment, that's just not one of the intentions of PT's design. RE being action-heavy isn't necessarily bad (and let's face it, by the time of RE6 in the RE storyline, if the surviving heroes WEREN'T totally badass, that would be really weird!), but moving the standard of survival from "a scenario-long ordeal" to "the current combat encounter" is quite a conceptual shift, and one which does make the game seem a little more trite.
I don't think I could stomach VR survival horror myself, though. I think I would find it much too stressful, and if I could in fact be desensitized to it (can you imagine how effective jump scares in VR will be?!), I would fear for my humanity.
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| Neo0r0chiaku
212th Post
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Frequent Customer
| "Re(7):Residential Nobi 7" , posted Wed 22 Jun 21:38
quote:
"Mighty" No.9:
MN9 is a disappointment on many levels. First, I feel sorry for the fans whose desire for something in the spirit of MegaMan was rewarded with this boondoggle. Second, I'm frustrated that such a high profile KS project turned into a high profile flame-out. This undoubtedly is one of those projects that will end the initial optimism that came with crowd funding games. I hope someone chronicles all the ups and downs of MN9 since it would be interesting reading on its own and mandatory reading for anyone trying to run a similar project.
Resident EEEVIL 7 demo:
I certainly don't want a full game that plays like that but for a demo that is supposed to convey the feeling that they are going for in the new game I thought it did a nice job. Instead of the bombastic action movies that were RE5 and 6 it was going for a more ground level approach of films such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Blair Witch Project. It's odd that a great deal of time and technology went into creating the atmosphere of movies that were filmed by a few people hanging around an old house or running around in the woods but there you go.
Even though it was very short, I also like that the tone was consistent. As Spoon noted the Biohazard games aren't horror so much as Japanese science fiction. While zombies may be the poster image of RE you spend half your time fighting mad scientists, walking plants and other goofball enemies that don't really convey a sense of "evil." Going back
-- Message too long, Autoquote has been Snipped --
Mighty no.9: Well, my advice to those backers disappointed with the final project, is to go play Azure Striker Gunvolt. That is now the last Megaman type game we have.
Kickstarter:I backed Yatagarasu and was satisfied enough. I will not back a project until Treasure Inc comes up with one. I know that will not be a disappointment.
Berserk: New anime starts in two weeks I believe. That Casca rape scene, I mean that chapter/last episode was the most shocking thing ever in anime. That was the main breakthrough in the series. Nothing more nothing less.
Resident Evil 7: For now, the positive thing about the demo is the outcome can change based on what you do, obtain, and use first. Which is good in my book. Did RE 5 & 6 have this feature? All the other RE games was practically one route.
Long Live I AM!
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| PSN: zonepharaoh
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| "Re(4):Monument to CING" , posted Tue 5 Jul 15:30
quote:
There's only one thing to be done: beat Last Window before CHASE is released!
Oh man, is the race on!? My Last Window cartidge case is empty...because Last Window remains in my DS, not even displaced by Fuurai. It is my one true mission that I have not completed, despite the way being open before me...
However, given that people tell me they loved the English versions of previous Kyle Hyde games, everyone had better hope that the people behind the ROM hack/Japanese 101 level translation featured in the Gematsu article have nothing whatsoever to do with the actual translation:
quote:
Tokyo Third Police Station, Unsolved Cases Investigation Division.
There are two detectives in this department never exposed to sunlight. There’s the eccentric detective Shonosuke Nanase and the self-proclaimed elite detective Koto Amekura. The two had too much time on their hands when they received phone a call.
The explosion five years ago. “That was not an accident. It was murder.” They did not know the caller’s identity, but although that strange phone call was not much to go on, they decided to begin an investigation. Was this really a case…?
First, they talk to the boy who caused the explosion. “Anything that isn’t 100 percent impossible is within the realm of the expected….” With Amekura’s words, Nanase finally kicks into action.
Chase the truth of the incident once put to rest!
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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| | "Re(5):Monument to CINGlish" , posted Wed 6 Jul 08:07:
quote:
terrible atmosphere localization
The English localization of Hotel Dusk / Wish Room was really quite good, having a very good noirish feel to it without being excessively cliche in its noir. This marketing blurb, on the other hand, is somewhere between amateurish and google translate.
The fact that Hotel Dusk was very much set in America allowed it to easily invoke American stylings in its writing, but I wonder if CHASE at all plays towards more Japanese stylings in its drama/writing due to its setting. Since I'm not at all fluent in Japanese, I feel like I'm going to recall an old question about what "Japanese noir" reads like. Any translations of that in English I'm sure will come through an American noir or neo-noir lens, which doesn't easily answer my question.
Alternatively, since Murakami is actively involved in the adaptation of his own work into English, and 1Q84 has a lot of neo-noir elements in it, I wonder if that's actually the best (Last?) Window into Japanese noir for a person only fluent in English.
[this message was edited by Spoon on Wed 6 Jul 08:10] |
| PSN: zonepharaoh
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| "Re(6):Monument to CINGlish" , posted Wed 6 Jul 08:47
quote:
I feel like I'm going to recall an old question about what "Japanese noir" reads like. Any translations of that in English I'm sure will come through an American noir or neo-noir lens, which doesn't easily answer my question.
Alternatively, since Murakami is actively involved in the adaptation of his own work into English, and 1Q84 has a lot of neo-noir elements in it, I wonder if that's actually the best (Last?) Window into Japanese noir for a person only fluent in English.
Yeah, we've had some good conversations in the past on Kyle Hyde's adventures in English (and other languages, get Maese in here), and from what I've read of the script, the English version does indeed hit even closer to the atmosphere the creators are aiming for than the original, which was itself going for an American noir feel but without the available vocabulary in Japanese ("hard-boiled" exists even if "noir" and its period accents do not).
Murakami in English has even more feedback loops, as we know: Murakami's clipped style in Japanese heavily approximates what a Japanese Hemingway or Fitzgerald would sound like, so translating this back into English frankly requires a very good noir/Hemingway writer who is also not too flowery of a writer. An English-reading friend whose opinion I trust has complained that the later translations of Murakami are too "literary" and sound like they were written by an academic---because, well, they were! The best Murakami you'll read in English is by Alfred Birnbaum, his earlier translator. Try Sheep Chase, one of Murakami's best anyway.
...I guess what I'm saying is, maybe we need Birnbaum to translate Chase?!
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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| | "Re(1):Furi Goat" , posted Sun 10 Jul 05:34
quote:
In North America in two weeks, finally!!
It's nice to see a game that successfully pulls off a retro esthetic since a lot of the modern pixel art games have an art design that does nothing for me. But why does the character art change on the main page when you mouse over it?
Speaking of smaller games, I recently tried the game Furi. Grinding your way through a series of boss fights is an interesting idea but right now the dodge mechanic is way more aggravating than it needs to be. However, I do like that for whatever reason the main character doesn't wear shoes.
Having spent some time with Escape Goat, I do appreciate its solid platforming and constantly shifting level layouts, and solving puzzles with the help of the mouse. Charming! However, it's got one thing that is radically different conceptually from Solomon's Key, and that is that at first glance there is little planning that is possible for how to solve the puzzle. A central element of Escape Goat are switches, that when touched, caused the tiles in the level to shift... but there's no guessing just how the tiles in the level will shift for any given switch. So you just have to press them all and see what happens. Only after you press every button and see what they do can you actually formulate a plan to solve the puzzle. But often times in the early levels... just pressing all the buttons already solves the puzzle for you! Other times, there are buttons you can straight up skip, which is fun for speed purposes, but leaves me going "I have no idea what buttons are actually important".
I do like watching the level shift about, and that alone is entertaining. But I'm torn between "oh, I'm surprised at just how the level changed!" and "I'm annoyed at how I often can't actually know what the puzzle is until I've abruptly solved it".
Furi is free on PS+, so that alone makes it worth trying. One thing about it that is jarring during the "slow walking" sequences but doesn't affect the fast fighting is that your character has absolutely no animation blend at all between a number of animations, particular just changing direction while moving! The way the dodge mechanic works with the mouse takes a bit of time to get used to, because during the times when the boss goes into a close-range mode, it's hard to tell just where you'll end up when you dodge. The fact that dodge has significant startup time in which you just stand still is a bit of a departure from the other dodge rolls out there.
It weirdly reminds me of El Shaddai, what with the odd sidekick character who has some unusually contemporary clothing, never mind the relatively flat shading.
It feels a little expensive at $30 just because all sense of monetary value when it comes to games these days has been so warped, but it doesn't feel like a bad game at all.
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| PSN: zonepharaoh
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| "Pokemon Go?" , posted Tue 12 Jul 14:15
I'm going to tell you a secret: I've never engaged with Pokemon in any form, be it the games, TV show, or cards. That's not because I'm against it, though! Is anyone in the Cafe knee-deep in Pokemon Go? Have any of you fallen down a sewer yet or discovered new friends/stolen jewels/terrifying neighborhoods yet? Even if I haven't played it, I've seen Ingress, and I'm enjoying all the media mayhem surrounding the game to no end, whether it's amusing comics and commentary, reverse-import-style articles in Japan about Americans going nuts about the game, or warnings from police and papers not to wander into traffic or crime scenes.
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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| | "Re(1):Pokemon Go?" , posted Thu 14 Jul 02:09
quote:
I'm going to tell you a secret: I've never engaged with Pokemon in any form, be it the games, TV show, or cards. That's not because I'm against it, though! Is anyone in the Cafe knee-deep in Pokemon Go? Have any of you fallen down a sewer yet or discovered new friends/stolen jewels/terrifying neighborhoods yet? Even if I haven't played it, I've seen Ingress, and I'm enjoying all the media mayhem surrounding the game to no end, whether it's amusing comics and commentary, reverse-import-style articles in Japan about Americans going nuts about the game, or warnings from police and papers not to wander into traffic or crime scenes.
I could easily verbally barf up several thousand words on this subject, but I'll try to be brief!
1) I love Pokémon, so I'm speaking as a longtime fan.
2) I think it's now clear that Nintendo was 100% right to wait so long to enter mobile seriously. I always thought that Pokémon on mobile done right would be the most popular game in the world. I think it's well on its way there (if it's not there already). I don't think the success of this game is a flash in the pan. My sodium levels have spiked, revelling in the tears of longtime Nintendo naysayers as they struggle to understand how this game could be so successful.
3) The technology for AR has been widely accessible for a while now (Nintendo has dabbled in it a lot in the past), but the reason this game is such a hit is that Pokémon is the absolute most perfect fit you can come up with for AR. Everything about it fits the format perfectly. Everything Pokémon Go asks you to do in real life is what you traditionally do in Pokémon to begin with (go outside, collect and catalog wild creatures, explore new places, make new friends face to face).
No other franchise fits into this kind of game so well. Tons of companies are probably pivoting to focus on AR right now, but none of them will have a smash hit quite like this. No one is actually emotionally invested enough in Angry Birds to want to catch them all. Disney has a rich stable of characters, but there's just something menacing about rounding up Disney Princesses with a large group of your friends. Also I believe they just laid off all the people that could be working on this. Skylanders might have a modicum of success. Maybe Marvel too? Yokai Watch (also owned by Nintendo) would do well in Asia. MegaMan Battle Network is also perfect for this format, but that will never ever happen. Megami Tensei could be a niche hit (it inspired POkemon in the first place after all). But yeah, Pokémon is the foot that fits in the AR glass Slipper perfectly.
4) As a longtime fan, I think Pokémon Go is 100% absolutely in the original spirit of the franchise. Pokémon has always been explicitly about bringing people together face to face. Pokémon is the creation of a man named Satoshi Tajiri. He is a self taught high school drop out programmer and game designer with Aspergers who is something of a shut in in real life. He created Pokemon with his best friend Ken Sugimori, the main artist of the series.
Pokémon was inspired by Tajiri's experiences collecting bugs as a kid. He was painfully shy, but trading bugs was how he socialized. He was so good at it that the other kids called him "the bug doctor." By the time he became an adult, all the forests and streams he used to catch bugs at had been paved over, but he dreamed of keeping that experience alive for the next generation.
When the Gameboy Link cable was created (way back in the day) it was originally meant for conventional co-op and vs play, but Tajiri imagined living creatures being exchanged across those wires. He convinced Nintendo to fund his game idea and the rest is history.
Pokémon isnt your regular soulless corporate franchise. It is the fully realized dream of two real, passionate artists who continue to work very hands on with their creation to this day. Even more unusual is that although it is a Nintendo game, the original creators still co-own the franchise. Its like if Marvel or Disney let its artists own their billion dollar worth creations. Pokemon has always been about bringing people together face to face through a common interest. It's a beautiful thing!
5) All my friends in America, most of them people who have never played a Pokémon game ever, are going NUTS for this game. I think people throughout Asia will go absolutely bonkers for it as well. Most kids in SE Asia did not have the handhelds to play the games on, yet it remains one of the most beloved franchises. Now suddenly billions of people who could only watch Pokémon from afar have direct access to it. I look forward to seeing how Pokémania will continue to sweep over the world (for instance, will the game even come out in China?)
www.art-eater.com
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| PSN: IkariLoona
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| "Re(4):Pokemon Go?" , posted Tue 19 Jul 23:16
The guy running the subreddits for both Final Fantasy XI and XIV managed to get the SE community team and through them the XI devs to hold an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on the FFXI subreddit - it probably wouldn't have been possible without the XIV contacts and the overwhelming focus that that community team has on that game instead of XI, although they're officially assigned to both, but it could turn out to be interesting.
The game is in a peculiar situation, between the statement that the final major story expansion has already been released, the director of SE's online game division running XIV, XI helping to pay for XIV and apparently now both helping to pay for XV, one Japan-only mobile version of XI and a different one on the way, none of which feel like they might be decent replacements for the game should the current version ever go offline, the shrinking of the dev team, and with that the absence of some of the people with the know-how to make structural changes to the game's core that would allow it to be optimized for modern hardware independent of the need for console support, and more recently a paid optional extension to the inventory system that's paid every month along with the subscription, which strangely costs more than keeping an additional character on your account, even if it allows you to do less.
I'm curious to see how that goes - probably a lot of evasive answers, but I hope most of the questions won't be dumb or discourage this sort of thing.
...!!
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| | "Re(7):PokemonGild?" , posted Sat 23 Jul 02:25
This is going to sound curmudgeonly of me, but with the success of Pokemon Go, I seriously think that civic taxes need to be levied against it.
I like the idea of products that encourage its users to go out into the real world, even explore it. The problem with Pokemon Go is that it has turned public spaces into de facto commercial spaces, greatly increasing the wear on these spaces. The amount of people making use of certain spaces in some public parks has increased nearly 100 fold, and those spaces are crammed full of people doing nothing but Pokemon Go.
At the moment, Nintendo and Niantic 100% externalize the costs of these spaces. Let's face it: utilizing the real world is a great cost-saving measure, giving an insane amount of content with no cost. But by leveraging of these spaces as revenue generating zones, they are benefiting from places maintained by public money without contributing to the maintenance of it, or the cost to other users of that area who can no longer use it because it has come to be a Pokemon Go party zone. It is normally possible to reserve zones in the local parks in my area for private functions, but this public use of it is like a 24hr reservation of that zone.
It is the case that microtransactions that occur in apps from the ios and I presume Android store are taxed. But their extreme utilization of particular public spaces is not really captured in that general tax. It is possible that if such a tax were levied, it would kill the future of AR games. On the other hand, right now I think that Nintendo and Niantic are getting a bit too much of a free ride.
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| PSN: zonepharaoh
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CFN: zonepharaoh
| "Re(1):New Sonic The Hedgehog stuff" , posted Tue 26 Jul 09:37
Woah, what an interesting, tragic Sonic parade.
On one hand we have Sonic Mania, whose trailer of the past 25 years unintentionally reminds us that most of the Sonic games released outside of the first four years are garbage. Christian Whitehead, of course, has a fine pedigree for the team, happily...I'll always marvel at how he managed to rebuild Sonic CD from scratch in a (nearly) perfect port. While on one hand, it would be easy to look at this fanfiction game with the same dread as the awful new Abrams-ified fanfiction Star Wars, but I remember playing around with his Sonic Extreme Genesis and being impressed with the creative designs there, so why not? After all, Dimps' Sonic Rush reminded us that THIS IS WHAT U NEED
Sonic 2017 sure is a pretty heroic simultaneous effort to revive the smaller Sonic Rush sideproject vs. shitty mainline 3D console entry binary from a decade ago!
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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XBL: IAMDC1
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STM: dc202styles
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| "Re(8):PokemonGild?" , posted Thu 28 Jul 23:49
quote:
This is going to sound curmudgeonly of me, but with the success of Pokemon Go, I seriously think that civic taxes need to be levied against it.
I like the idea of products that encourage its users to go out into the real world, even explore it. The problem with Pokemon Go is that it has turned public spaces into de facto commercial spaces, greatly increasing the wear on these spaces. The amount of people making use of certain spaces in some public parks has increased nearly 100 fold, and those spaces are crammed full of people doing nothing but Pokemon Go.
At the moment, Nintendo and Niantic 100% externalize the costs of these spaces. Let's face it: utilizing the real world is a great cost-saving measure, giving an insane amount of content with no cost. But by leveraging of these spaces as revenue generating zones, they are benefiting from places maintained by public money without contributing to the maintenance of it, or the cost to other users of that area who can no longer use it because it has come to be a Pokemon Go party zone. It is normally possible to reserve zones in the local parks in my area for private functions, but this public use of it is like a 24hr reservation of that zone.
It is the case that microtransactions that occur in apps from the ios and I presume Android store are taxed. But their extreme utilization of particular public spaces is not really captured in that general tax. It is possible that if such a tax were levied, it would kill the fut
-- Message too long, Autoquote has been Snipped --
Indeed this app is controversial on the negative and positive side. For me, my only opinion on it is that the app would be worth it as a gamer if I can battle the Pokémon I come across with my Pokémons. That surely would be something. From my understanding of the game, it's only to catch them and no fighting involved correct?
Long Live I AM!
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| | "Re(1):Spike-Chunsoft no MeiQ V" , posted Thu 4 Aug 16:09
quote:
DLC became a thing with Shin 2 / Untold 2, unless I am mistaken.
This is the kind of stuff you'll get in the new one: new quests with costumes as rewards (they are just costumes to customize your character, not new classes), "cheating" quests providing a lot of ressources (such as money or XP) and the FM-style soundtrack which used to be an endgame reward in previous games.
Despite protests on social networks and message boards, the cheating quest DLC in SMT4 were actually popular purchases so it seems like a good strategy for this kind of game (especially as there is no multiplayer element).
Hmm, those don't seem quite so bad as how it sounded when you said that "It's understandable but unfortunate that the series relies so much on DLC nowadays", which made it sound like players really needed to buy into the DLC into order to get a proper experience. To be honest, I'm surprised that what DLC there is for EOV is sufficient to buoy it, because aside from the easy-farming ones, the character portraits seem pretty skippable, and few people I know are FM diehards.
However, Spike Chunsoft has a twitter poll where you can vote for a Steam release of 428! And this is their English twitter!
https://twitter.com/SpikeChunsoft_e/status/761087936037130241
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"Re(4):RANDOM GAMES! #32: what's in a date" , posted Thu 2 Jun 05:37
"Re(1):RANDOM GAMES! #32: what's in a list" , posted Fri 3 Jun 10:16
I bought some games that were on my eShop wishlist!
Sale content is very limited compared to Japan's.
) would be perfect.
to emotionally connect with child or press 
to pout. Trying to express feelings of "maturity" in a game isn't necessarily a bad idea in and of itself, the problem often comes from trying to force the game to conform to theme instead of letting the gameplay convey what the programmers were hoping to get across. This makes for clunky BioShock big ideas that are 
