It's a thread! (Games discussion, etc.)

[Moge]

@JGOO  Nintendo needs to realize its the software and not the gimmicks that is selling its portables. Outside of the silver screen 3D hasn't had much of an impact. Can't say i'll miss it if it is removed in the future.

@AZ  Whenever i get a souped up PC (probably next year) i'll be sure to play Bionic Commando. I tried out a Rearmed 2 demo a while back. Didn't seem too bad, although having the ability to jump was surprising. Sorely miss the Shinkiro artwork from the first one though.

Without further ado my top ten -->

10. Bionic Commando Rearmed
As far as remakes (rarely) go this one totally blows the original in every possible way.

9. Valkyria Chronicles
I'd kill for a Gears of War-like game set in Valkyria's fictional Europe, but as a SRPG its still decent. Very charming cast of characters.

8. Hotel Dusk: Room 215
Became absolutely bored of videogames briefly in 2005. After two weeks the magic of a genre i never gave a flip about, point-n-click adventures/visual novels (the non-porn kind), reignited the flame. I really miss Cing

7. Demento
During my period of boredom i became entrenched in Clock Tower, a point-n-click horror on Super Fami. Not too soon did i became obsessed with stealth horror (more hiding and less fighting). Demento pretty much perfected the formula and is widely considered the fourth (and last) sequel in the CT series.

6. Phantom Dust
Most fun i've ever had in a RPG combat system. So good that it's a legend as a multi-player game. Port it to XBLA now Micro$soft! (or make a sequel)

5. Street Fighter 4
Waited sooooooooo looooooong for this game. Capcom delivered for the most part and single-handedly revived the fighting game genre.

4. Deadly Premonition
My first open-world game. It's not very good but the story... wow. Even Micro$oft realizes Swery65 is an exceptional writer by paying for the development of his next game.

3. Super Mario Galaxy
Perfection. Having played through most of the second game i much prefer the first game based on a better presentation and a hub world. Oh, and Rosalina.

2. Resident Evil 4
Outstanding mix of horror, action, and cheesy B-movie lines. This game remains without peer even today (sorry Gears, Dead Space, etc).

1. Mother 3
What's so special about the Mother franchise? It has a heart, and it's also very unorthodox. Beneath the cutesy, retro exterior is a satirical re-imagining on the follies of contemporary society, as experienced through a boy, a dog, a school girl, and a cripple; best RPG party ever!

[JG]

10. Bionic Commando Rearmed
As far as remakes (rarely) go this one totally blows the original in every possible way.

That's a pretty damned tall order, because the original is hands down one of the top 10 NES games.  I may have to check this out.

5. Street Fighter 4
Waited sooooooooo looooooong for this game. Capcom delivered for the most part and single-handedly revived the fighting game genre.

Revived? I never thought it died - it just translated into newer species.  After Street Fighter was Mortal Kombat.  After MK was KOF.  After KOF was DOA.  After DOA was Capcom/SNK/Vs.  Now the cycle is just starting anew with Street Fighter and remakes of games like Mortal Kombat and Killer Instinct.

[Moge]

I wouldn't hesitate to put Bionic Commando in the top 5 NES games having replayed it a couple years ago. With that said Rearmed really is a stupendous remake that fixes what few complaints i had about the original (fleshing out the story, adding an actual final level, improving the swinging mechanics).

Revived? I never thought it died - it just translated into newer species.

The fighting scene never died per se but due to the ever-evolving complexity of fighters coupled with the death of arcades, it sorta lost its mass appeal over time. I can tell you as someone who regularly plays fighting games that the scene before SF4 was just lingering despite new fighters coming out; the people wanted SF and nothing else. Thanks to the retro renaissance this generation that finally happened, and it gave an unprecedented boost to arcade stick sales. If you regularly watch fighting game tournaments its always SF4 that has the highest viewership and the highest amount of participants internationally (MK viewership is comparatively quite low despite amazing sales. My theory is that the majority of that game's audience doesn't care enough to play it competitively).

[Moge]

Any interest in the Steam Box around here?

Valve definitely has the resources and momentum to compete against the three dynasties, and the fact they're offering their own OS as an alternative to Windows is a really sound plan to nab both the disgruntled PC and console audiences. It also helps the Steam Box controller is an epiphany for comfy couch gamers long perplexed by PC gaming.

[JG]

If SteamBox offers the same games at comparable quality but cheaper price than the Xbox One or PS4 varieties, then sure.  Otherwise its an uphill battle.

I'd bet my money on Ouya instead though.  Ouya is following the phone model, with an updated product practically every year.  Technology-wise, it may be behind the first few years, but by the time Ouya 3 or 4 comes out, it'll start passing by the big three in some features (and already beating them on price of hardware and games).  I don't like that the Xbox One and PS4 are repeats of the same 7-8 year model lifecycle.  I was hoping to see hardware that showed promise of more frequent updates (like say, removable/updatable graphics card and hard drive modules)

[Moge]

It's true Valve has an uphill battle not only in the console space but the PC space as well. Moving the Windows game audience to the Linux platform... that'll be interesting to watch in the next few years.

Oh man. I hate to break it to you, JGOO, but the Ouya is a massive flop. No way there'll be another upgrade if the first one isn't successful (unless they've still got some Kickstarter money lying around). Relying on indies to sell the system wasn't the brightest idea in hindsight, and its much touted open-source capability isn't really all that impressive in this day and age when folks can just connect a PC to a television to get a similar experience.

[JG]

I don't think there will be new 3DS colors.

I stand corrected.  There will be a gold color XL in the Christmas 2013 bundle that includes a Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds download card. ($219.99)

Still no white model.

[Moge]

While i'm not entirely a fan of the garish gold color, i do have a bit of an appetite to get one knowing any Zelda-themed system will always be highly valued by collectors.

No doubt it'll sell out fairly quickly, but of all days to be released, it's on Black Friday. Chances of Amazon getting a batch are zero.

[JG]

.. but of all days to be released, it's on Black Friday.

Nope.

Release Date = November 22
Black Friday = November 29

Amazon should have plenty on Launch Day, but you ought to be able to just walk into your local retailer and pick one up without dealing the crowds, too.  I know I'll be enjoying my Thanksgiving weekend and being well into A Link Between Worlds and Super Mario 3D World. (Lousy that they launch on the same day though. I'd rather have one now or in December than get both at once.)

[Moge]

That's the European release date. So far the only indication of a release in the U.S. is a leaked Black Friday Gamestop flyer circulating around the interwebs.

The North American Amazon branch (the U.S. branch to be more specific) no longer sells Nintendo hardware itself due to a dispute (that neither side is willing to detail); it's been that way since Nintendo snubbed Amazon out of a Wii U release.

[JG]

A Black Friday ad saying the game will be out by then, doesn't disprove that it could be out before then.

The official NOA Zelda site still contends its set for a November 22 release, as do the websites for GameStop, BestBuy, Walmart, Target, Toys'R'Us, and Amazon.  And Wikipedia also has it as November 22, providing zero evidence of a delay.


Nintendo has partnered with Best Buy as their premium retail supplier.  Obviously Best Buy and Amazon are not on the best of terms, hence the decision to no longer carry Amazon as a launch hardware provider.

[Moge]

Welp. Looks like your hunch was right JGOO about the Gold XL's release being the 22nd in North America.

I *might* pick one up.

[Moge]

Did you ever get ALL the stars in Mario Galaxy 2, JGOO?

Not sure if i'm up for going through every single level again. Is there really any substantial new content after the initial 120?

[JG]

No.  I think I got around 110, and the last few were real toughies.  I recall not being able to unlock the final star on star road (which requires something like 115 stars?)

Speaking of which, hoping 3D World is non-linear, like SM64 and the two Galaxies.  I'm tired of the level-by-level, world-by-world progression in the last several games in the "New" series.  Although 3D Land was also linear and that concerns me that this one will be, too. Here's hoping Big N is going to mix it up a bit this time.

[Moge]

Kinda strange to give up when you were so close to the end, but having just played through the Rainbow Road level, it was hands down the hardest in the entire game.

Good riddance to motion-controls in Wii U Mario, although i will sorely miss the manta ray surfing from the first Galaxy.

Which Nintendo title are you picking up first on Friday, JGOO?

[JG]

I'll get both, but will actually play Zelda first.

[Moge]

So is ALBW as every bit as good as the game it takes inspiration from? Would you prefer it to the console Zeldas?

[Rai]

I found Link Between Worlds brilliant, myself. It gets the distinction of being the most open, free-roaming Zelda game since the first one, and since exploration and adventure are exactly the things I go to this series for, it was everything I wanted. It's all because of the item rental system, which sounded like a terrible idea when I first heard about it, but then it turned out to mean I get almost all the progression items before the second dungeon. The usual Zelda system is to mete those items out dungeon-by-dungeon to control sequencing, but LBW has little sequence. By the time you get to Lorule you can take on 6 of the 7 dungeons there in whatever order you want and I love it.

I wasn't a fan of Skyward Sword, and this game answers all my gripes with it. Fast text scrolling, open world, no overbearing helper, no hand-holding. The primary hint system in this game consumes Play Coins so it's like it actively discourages me from getting advice -- a welcome change of pace from the console Zeldas that increasingly insist on giving advice whether I want it or not.

The only downside was that it was over too quickly. It's pretty quick and easy. Most of the difficulty comes from certain enemies doing tons of damage with one hit -- a side-effect of balancing damage values based on armor upgrades that give you up to 4X defense. But if you're thorough you get all those upgrades in due time and the game becomes a breeze. In just a week I had completed both Normal and Hero mode, and now there's nothing to do but wait for Streetpass hits to give me new opponents to fight.

I'm fine with it going by quickly considering the alternative would have been padding it out with stricter sequencing. I'd say this was a good trade-off. The openness means it's ripe for replay value too. I'll probably start a fresh game every now and then and go through the Lorule dungeons in different orders, try it with fewer upgrades, use different weapons more frequently, etc. I've played it two different ways of many so far, and I'm still wondering how it would go if I picked different routes.

Link to the Past is my favourite because childhood, but this one gets a lot right in recapturing the feeling of it. It's more than just re-using the map, the character designs, and the rough scenario. It's about making a game that feels as tight and definitive as LttP, and it surprised me that they pulled it off this well.

There is one aspect I love about LttP that they can never recapture though, and that's the self-contained nature of it. LttP wasn't a sequel or a prequel at the time, it was a remake/re-imagining of the first game, and it was only later that they made the big overarching timeline that retcons it into being just another 'link' in the chain. You can tell LttP's story was meant to be self-contained from beginning to end, but every Zelda from Ocarina onward has had to make reference to the struggle between Link, Ganon, and Zelda as a never-ending cycle. It detracts from the sense of mystery of the backstory as well as the sense of victory at the climax. I actually like the timeline as a whole and all the possibilities it represents...but I selfishly want LttP exempt from it. Its story just works better taken on its own than as part of the series.

[JG]

Agree almost entirely with Rai's aseessment. It is very open, very good, and the item rental idea isn't the bad idea it sounded like (with exception that the prices are much too low, as you should have collected enough rupees to be able to rent almost every item by the time you've finished the Eastern Palace and certainly by the time you finish your second palace.)

Like LttP it is too short though.  The dungeons and bosses are easier as well, so there isn't as much challenge.  I've needed no potions or milk in regular mode and only needed to be saved by a fairy once.  With five bottles full of fairies I don't think I'll need any before end of game - Hero Mode likely flips difficulty on its head though.

There's a nice item improvement method in the game involving finding 100 missing octopi children. You can't always see them but you can hear them, so if you explore a bit you can find them all without difficulty.  Every 10 you find nets you a weapon upgrade.  For example, short range boomerang becomes longer ranged like in earlier games, but items like Flame Rod can now produce a larger pillar of flame once upgraded.  This encourages you to go back to areas you explored earlier, which wasn't done enough in LttP (who goes back to the Sanctuary after escaping Hyrule Castle in LttP?)

I do have a couple of gripes. The item change method is the classical pause-mode selection screen.  I'd rather pause to see the map and be able to choosemy weapons on the fly than vice versa.  The recent Wind Waker HD did it right, and ALBW doesn't.  There is a quick change method for selecting items but its clunky.  Secondly, there are misleading clues in the game about where to find the miner on Death Mountain.  Finding his ore mine is easy, but he's not there - he's actually on a ledge above it, which means you have to take a different route through the mountain - which isn't immediately apparent becuase the platform to access it appears later than the platform to the ore mine.  I had to GameFaqs to find out where he was and how to get to him. (Note that while the overworld looks similar to LttP, the caves are entirely new.)

[Moge]

ALttP served as the blueprint for every Zelda that came afterwards. I agree with Rai when he says that particular entry in the series should be left alone. No need to retcon in Gorons or beautify the Zoras (which i'm wondering if they did) and all that.

VERY disappointed to hear ALBW isn't the least bit challenging. Although ALttP wasn't balls-hard like The Adventure of Link, it wasn't exactly a cakewalk either. As far as difficulty goes, Skyward Sword was a step in the right direction, but it stinks to hear they're falling back on contemporary Zelda difficulty (to appease the casual handheld audience perhaps ).