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| Spoon 2122th Post
  
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|  "Re(3):Random Thread Ninja Edition" , posted Mon 21 Feb 05:30  
quote:
Looks fun! But is it wrong if I'm bothered the main character has next to no actual animation?
Maybe this is just an early version and they haven't completed the animation yet. The footage looks unfinished to me. That or they're trying to see how few art assets they can put into a game before anyone feels like something's missing. That seems to be a popular trend in 2d indie games of the last few years, make art direction choices that dramatically reduce costs while also registering as a bold stylistic decision.
One time I was playing Spectral vs. Generation (forgive me!) on a PS2 and it glitched weirdly with the modded PS2... the character sprites didn't display properly, but the hitboxes did!
Sometime later, I remember somebody on SRK proposing (somewhat jokingly) a fighting game that was just hitboxes.
Video games are kind of interesting in that from the beginning, they have been full of STUFF. Think about all the technology that goes into making a system that shows animated pictures and sounds and reacts in real time to user inputs, and does so purely with the power of some physics and chemistry and math. It's really quite amazing. Whatever the world's first painting was, I wonder if it could've been deconstructed. Tennis For Two, arguably the world's first video game, was played on an oscilloscope. There are no visible player avatars, the ball's movement has basic physics, and as a happy result of being on an oscilloscope, the ball has MOTION TRAILS. It's already a pretty minimalistic game. I don't even think it kept score. The sheer amount of stuff games take from other mediums and arts and the incredibly powerful information technologies we have now give it an astonishing ability to grow and to look at it itself.
I think about Earthbound and how it's full of little touches that are really quite unnecessary and easily missed. Things like riding the bicycle in the raining woods, or the sesame seed in the desert quest. While the need to get something done pushes for streamlining, I wonder if it wouldn't be possible for a game to be defined (in a good way!) by tiny, extraneous things.
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| Baines 281th Post
Copper Customer
| "Re(2):Re(10):Random Thread Ninja Edition" , posted Fri 25 Mar 01:06
quote:
The amount changed seemed pretty bi to me too, but maybe they're thinking of making further changes later on as needed - so for now they make the current target of complaints much weaker to see whom else players gravitate towards for exploitable tactics, then fix that one while maybe giving Sentinel a bit of health back since he's no longer the problem - then continuously repeat the process until just about everyone's been covered.
It just seems more sensible that if they felt they had to act this soon, that they should have done a more gradual drop, and do a further drop in another patch if it proved necessary.
I was going to say that it seemed like Capcom was still stuck in the arcade mindset that updates to fighting games are expensive and take time, and thus they need to take bold steps in balance, rather than being able to take multiple minor steps. But then I thought about it and realized updates are still expensive.
I don't know about full release titles, but I recall an XBLA developer saying that XBLA titles got one free patch, and they had to pay for anything beyond that first patch. Microsoft presumably wants patches tested as well, regardless of what kind of patch they are. So Capcom probably still can't do something subtle like drop Sentinel's health by 100,000 every few weeks. (Well, I can see a way to do it that would dodge the patching process, but it would only apply to online matches. Offline, if the machine was still connected to the net.)
And honestly, are more patches even guaranteed? Sentinel's health change was probably riding on the back of a patch that Capcom had already decided to make. If Capcom doesn't find more glitches to fix, they might not do any more balance updates at all? So, in arguable classic arcade fashion, Capcom seemingly overreacted in how much of a change it made.
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| Pollyanna 3011th Post
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| "Re(6):Dissidia duodenum" , posted Tue 29 Mar 12:54
quote:
I had never played dissidia, but correct me wrong, this game will be like a ''virtual on meets final fantasy?''
Also, WTF KOEI?
Hah! Koei deserves it! Is Konami next?
Dissidia is... a little like Virtual On, in that you run around in 3D and attack with a mixture of projectiles and melee attacks, but that's about it. The air battles feel like dancing...
Speaking of Dissidia...
quote:
Anyway, after playing Dissidia 012 for a bit, I suddenly find myself incredibly interested in playing the FF games that I never finished, like 4, 5, 9 and 10. Dissidia is interesting and all, but it's quite surprising how much it's ignited my desire to go and play these games!
I finally decided I was enough of a Tales nerd to get Radiant Mythology 3 and it's caused a similar reaction. It's a good "fan" game, but not a good Tales game. It made me think "maybe I should finish Tales of Rebirth", but then I groaned when I got ToR characters on my team and knew that was a mistake.
It made me order Tales of Graces F, though...even though I already played ToG on Wii. At least I know that one is good.
On a related note, Play Asia has a 48 hour sale (already half over!) with 20% off all in-stock stuff. Shame they didn't have Vesperia PS3 in stock...
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
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| Grave 1362th Post
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Red Carpet Executive Member
| "Re(7):Dissidia duodenum" , posted Tue 29 Mar 14:47
That'd be enough to get Play-Asia off of my shitlist for the nonsense they pulled with the PS3 NGCD pad I preordered (and, of course, didn't get), but I'm pretty sure my game budget is nonexistent after I decided to buy a 3DS on a whim on Sunday! Er, not that I'm not going to buy Moon Diver tomorrow, but...
Loving the 3DS, though! Pleasantly surprised by its size - it's about DS lite-sized. I was expecting it to be much bigger. People who say the launch titles are nothing inspiring would be correct, but I have a new Nintendogs, a good Ridge Racer (which I'm told is nothing new if you played RR6 or 7, but this is my first since RRV...) and plenty of fun toys to play with. AR cards! 3D camera! Face Raiders! This is definitely the kind of toy that's enhanced by how interested your friends are in it. Seems very socially-oriented, but I guess only time will tell how that works out? Haven't been out with it but I wonder if StreetPass will turn anything up on my commute tomorrow.
As for the 3D effect, it's really impressive! I had no clue what it'd look like before I got it out of the box, honestly, and I'm very happy with it. It's a bit much turned up all the way, but 50%-75% is great. It hurt my eyes a little bit on the first day, but today it didn't bother me at all. Not sure what to think of that. It bummed me out to turn it off when eyestrain set in, though, it really is cool.
Anyone else pick one up? Thoughts?
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| Loona 390th Post
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| "Re(6):Dissidia duodenum" , posted Tue 29 Mar 20:47
quote:
I had never played dissidia, but correct me wrong, this game will be like a ''virtual on meets final fantasy?''
Never having played Virtual On, I'dcompare it more to modern DBZ games - then again, I haven't played those either, but someone at SE must have, since the game leans a lot towards aerial battles (at least the original one does, in part due to a Good Bad Bug that resets your jumps when you dodge).
It has an interesting solution to the dilemma between having lots of moves but complex controls, or simple controls but few moves, by giving you access to more attacks as you level up, and you get to pick which ones (for a total of about 12 attacks: 3 ground Brave attacks, 3 aerial Brave attacks, 3 ground HP attacks and 3 aerial HP attacks - generally sepaking at lest, some character have fewer attacks, but may have gimmick like the option of linking an a HP attack from a brave attack) you'll actually use in battle, so you can stick with favorted attacks.
All that flying seems a bit crazy knowing the source games (BTW, it really inspired me into looking into FF5), but it seems like a decent comprimise when you're pitting guys who're good with swords against demi-gods.
My GF is thinking of getting Duodecim so we can play together, but I hear the setup to play with someone else is a bit convoluted, and considerin it's competitive only, I wonder if it'd be worth it...
"Beat the machine that works in your head!" - Guano Apes "Open Your Eyes"
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| Pollyanna 3012th Post
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| "Re(8):Dissidia duodenum" , posted Thu 31 Mar 04:04
quote:
That'd be enough to get Play-Asia off of my shitlist for the nonsense they pulled with the PS3 NGCD pad I preordered (and, of course, didn't get), but I'm pretty sure my game budget is nonexistent after I decided to buy a 3DS on a whim on Sunday! Er, not that I'm not going to buy Moon Diver tomorrow, but...
I would say "that's quite the impulse buy!" but I remember, we're all adults here. It's not 6 months of allowance.
For me, if I got a 3DS, it would just force me to play games I don't want to play. I'm glad to hear positive reviews of the system, but despite the time and money I throw into video games, I only buy a system when it has a game I simply can't live without on it.
I wasn't really impressed with the Moon Diver demo. I think I liked Hard Corps better. I thought "maybe it would be better with 4 players, but then it would just get slowed down more with the super moves...
quote:
All that flying seems a bit crazy knowing the source games (BTW, it really inspired me into looking into FF5), but it seems like a decent comprimise when you're pitting guys who're good with swords against demi-gods.
My GF is thinking of getting Duodecim so we can play together, but I hear the setup to play with someone else is a bit convoluted, and considerin it's competitive only, I wonder if it'd be worth it...
I think they manage it well enough. The characters who can fly look like they're flying and the characters who "can't" are just...uhm... jumping and spinning an infinite number of times. When you dive or shoot across a pit, I like it that some characters look like they took an impossibly powerful jump rather than strictly floating. In Advent Children, everyone looked like they weighed about 5 pounds, even when they were hitting each other, so it...erm...makes sense?
I had a terrible time trying to play the first game with my friends. If your GF enjoys the competition and isn't into more complicated fighting games, it might be good, but with me it was a bunch of complications, poor balance and sore losers.
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The after story part for the ps3 version was rubbish though! Hated that
Ironically, I had completely forgotten that existed! I guess that would've been a selling point before your admonishment. Hopefully, it won't make me retroactively hate the whole game?
I love how Namco has crowded up the PSN store with free skits from the game. So whenever you go to download a skit, you think "maybe I do want that Miku costume after all." I might have to get Malik's school costume, since he wore the swimsuit the last time I went through...(until it got too distracting)
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
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| Maou 2173th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(10):Dissidia duodenum" , posted Thu 31 Mar 11:08
quote:
I'm really bad at big purchases. I tend to deliberate over them for weeks and then regret them for more weeks when I made them.
Grave, I totally get this, even now. I remember how I was supposed to buy a DS Lite in 2006 and accidentally (?!) didn't buy one until 2008. When I did, it was in celebration of a new job and it was March or so, so it was going to be part of "March Madness," until my friends and I realized, "woah, better not get carried away," so we decided to stick with "Moderate Madness." I think I got an unprecedented two new games at the time, though. Like woah.
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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| Toxico 5308th Post
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|  "Continium Shaft" , posted Sat 16 Apr 08:53:
quote:
You guys are playing the El Shaddai demo and taking your clothes off, right?
I like your thinking.
Moe-tan for quin's gait?
Every time one of these hits, an angel get it's wings, If you can't win with 4th batter Heihachi or Ace pitcher Reiko, then you can't win at all
So, no Sound effects nor anything for the early trailer, probably means that they are going to redub everything and change the music yet again for the final release, ah? I'LL MASH YOU LIKE POTATOES!
Asura's Wrath According to dengeki, the images are the most interesting thing to me from there.
Nippon Ichi remind us that we can burn money on them! How kind!
quote:
OH Wow!
... Wait, is it going to become Exodus' gallery of arcade cabinets?
I'd hit it. 
edit :
Ok, so basically the forced patch forces the (un)balance changes into the game, but for everything else there is Mastercard (?); hence Pátinium and the others are still DLC. Pátinium will be available for auction with the 1.03 update (that sounded so wrong in my mind... Or rather, so right).
目に焼きつけて、死ぬがいい・・・
Update 23 as of 25/10/10 (Temporary mega upload link).
Now sponsoring : video game analogies (ES)
Last update : Chapter 22 as of 10/01/11
[this message was edited by Toxico on Sat 16 Apr 11:57] |
| Pollyanna 3021th Post
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| "Re(3):Continium Shaft" , posted Sun 17 Apr 07:00
quote:
Who said you can't pick versions? Every patch so far (that I'm aware of, anyway) allowed you to host rooms running a different version if you wanted to skip DLC chars or whatever. Is that not the case now? Maybe I'm hallucinating the whole thing? It's really hard to tell these days.
Shows what I know! I need to get better at discerning the inane from the informative in Toxico's posts.
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So how is El Shaddi? Does it play well or did the game peak with that trailer everyone became mesmerized by?
A bunch of short sentences:
It's so-so. Jumping in 3D is awkward. Combat could be fun or not so fun depending on if you get new stuff to do. You don't lock onto the enemies very well, so you end up missing a lot. The platform segments seem cool. It reminds me of Okami a lot. It looks amazing. The soundtrack might be good.
It's a curiosity. I think it's clear that it isn't a fantastic game already, but it might be a fantastic experience. I'll wait for the word on the street. If the plot is good and it's not too repetitive, I'm sold.
quote:
Why did it take Platinum so long to get released? Was the character designed to be an arcade exclusive?
I can't say why for sure, but it seems to make sense. One reason is to give the arcade version a little more time in the spotlight, as well as the portable ones (as Sfried said, they have everything in the update, and probably more in terms of extra content).
I suppose they could've launched Platinum on her own, but it gives the arcade update more
"punch" by waiting to release her at the same time.
If it was just a little change, I would say they were jerking our chains, but having spent time with the arcade version, I can say it's a fairly significant reworking. I don't think my bread and butter combo with any character except Makoto wasn't nixed or significantly altered. I've certainly played less-altered Guilty Gear updates, waited longer for them and paid significantly more, so I think Arksys is making a move in the right direction. Same goes with Capcom and SF AE.
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
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| Loona 396th Post
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Silver Customer
| "Re(1):Continium Shaft" , posted Tue 19 Apr 17:37
quote:
Moe-tan for quin's gait?
Good grief... I want to like this, or at least the SNK fan in me wants to, but the more news come out the more reasons come up to push me away from this...
Related, it seems SRWZ2 is already out, and at least the comments in the SRW thread in the Something Awful forums are looking very positive. They mention fun little touches like Kamina's glasses being a Morale boosting item that work particularly well on Simon, Daiguard's defense stat being 10 times smaller than Mazinger's, and the Daiguard and some other series pilots having an innate skill called Salaryman. Of all those series I've only watched Daiguard (I gotta get round to watching VOTOMS...), and not all of it, but I like what I'm reading...
Also, since the game's a 2-parter, it seems its saved data carries over to the upcoming 2nd part.
I just kinda skimmed that though, and got the impression that regular copies are almost sold out (some people ordered the special edition)... I hope I misread that... I was kinda thinking of waiting for Queen's Gate to order the 2 together...
"Beat the machine that works in your head!" - Guano Apes "Open Your Eyes"
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| karasu99 584th Post
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New Red Carpet Member
| "Re(1):To buy or not to buy?" , posted Thu 21 Apr 03:31
quote:
was wondering about the recent lack of shumps in my life. Hey, I'm going to buy Mamonoro limited on PS3, it's similar to KikiKaiKai so it's a given to me.
But I also noticed Eschatos and Bullet Soul coming to 360 REGION FREE. Oh, the bless.
Oh, the fxxx! I don't have the money to buy all 3 at the same time, import goes strong here, we have to pay a lot of taxes so I ask you cafers what do you think about the 2 Xbox titles above.
Is there a game that is inferior to another or are at the same level? Have you played them? Are there similar to other titles or a completely new experience?
I have a sense that this genre is not the most popular here, but I am personally a huge shooter fan. I've been thinking about Eschatos quite seriously since it includes Judgement Silversword which I've always wanted to try. Still, I just invested in a Japanese X360 setup to play Dodonpachi Dai-Fukkatsu and Ketsui, so I may hold off for just a bit.
ALSO: You neglected to mention Otomedius X, which is released this week! As a spiritual successor to Parodius, I've given it quite a bit of consideration as well. Plus Akai Katana Shin comes soon!
On a related note, I've always wondered why shooters for the X360 (Cave ones in particular) have such a high retail price compared to other games. Is it because there is a such a fanatical captive audience? Some of the individuals at the Shmups board appear to spend thousands on their setups. Anyone who is less clueless than me care to comment?
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| Ishmael 4073th Post
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| "Re(6):To buy or not to buy?" , posted Thu 21 Apr 23:34
quote:
That is actually a pretty cool trivia question! Hmm, on the spot and not counting those MMA/Boxing/wrestling sims, the latest game I can think of is Buriki One in 1999, but let me think about it over the weekend.
Just a guess here, but if an all-male game was built it would probably end up being designed to cater to those who prefer toned men over young girls. Different song, same melody.
As for the last y chromosome fighter was, Chaz may be right with Buriki One. Fighting games based around adolescent male power fantasy manga such as Hokuto no Ken and Yuu Yuu Hakusho had several all-male casts. By 1999, however, I think even the most shonen of series had started to let a token girl or two into the clubhouse.
What about that bizarre fighting/stripping game that never went anywhere? If I remember correctly that game featured male/female teams but only the men fought while the women waited off-screen to see if they got to keep their clothes. So the question here is... who the hell thought that game was a good idea? No, wait, the question is... does that game qualify as an all-male roster?
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| Pollyanna 3023th Post
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| "Re(2):To buy or not to buy?" , posted Sat 23 Apr 08:29
quote:
Related, it seems SRWZ2 is already out, and at least the comments in the SRW thread in the Something Awful forums are looking very positive.
DUDE. I have been lukewarm on SRW for years, but I decided to get this one (after skipping out on a few) and BOY AM I GLAD. Although I haven't played every game in the series, this one is my favorite by a LONG SHOT. (Of course, I had problems with the previous games that SRW fans don't see at all, so maybe you should take my opinion with a grain of salt.)
Still, it's really blown me away thus far. The fact that it has so many of my favorite series is a plus, but I just feel like I offers a more "well-rounded strategy game experience" than many of the other games. I could go on and on, but I'll just say that any good press the game has received is well-deserved and probably true.
I actually liked Queen's Blade better than SRW, but this game is so good that it's killed my anticipation for Queen's Gate.
quote:
On a related note, I've always wondered why shooters for the X360 (Cave ones in particular) have such a high retail price compared to other games. Is it because there is a such a fanatical captive audience?
This is why I'm not into shooters that much. I play Touhou and that's pretty much it. I can't justify the price, because I just don't get that much out of a shooting game. I got Deathsmiles when it came out over here, and I got Ikaruga on 360, but I can't see spending $80 on a game that might not tickle my fancy for more than a few hours.
I'm sad that someone is talking about importing something and I have nothing to contribute, though...
quote:
In other downloadable all girls 2D fighter news, Arcana Heart 3 is out on US PSN. I'm still busy with the excellent MK9 right now but I'm glad I can get into the series finally after the botched sequel.
With MvsC3 still (somewhat) entertaining me, the BlazBlue update coming out in a few weeks and SF4AE a month after that, I don't know if I have "room" for Arcana Heart. It came at a pretty bad time, considering how relatively few 2-D (style) fighters there are on the market.
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
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| Pollyanna 3027th Post
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| "Re(10):To buy or not to buy?" , posted Mon 25 Apr 05:36
quote:
Question for those who has bought Castlevania Harmony of Despair
The game looks cool and all, but the fact that between the stages and now characters I will had to expend 4000 ms points really turns me off, those characters are not included with the new stages?
No, but you probably don't need all of them. I can say that Yoko is a waste of money, certainly. Also, I would recommend "winning" the game before you buy the new levels. Not that they aren't worth it (to me at least), but they're decidedly harder and you'll have enough to keep you busy at first even without them. After you got through the initial stages,it'll be easier to decide if the new ones are worth the money or not.
Orrrrr...you can wait for it to go on sale, I guess. They had a sale on it a few months back, handily right after I bought everything.
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
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| karasu99 594th Post
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New Red Carpet Member
| "Re(5):Etrian Atelier Odyssey" , posted Tue 3 May 01:26:
quote:
That sort of thing's been around for years - Queen of Hearts comes to mind.
Well, I more meant that there seems to be a particularly dense concentration of them-- there were certainly several all-female fighters that I quite enjoyed for the PC Engine-- not that all-female fighters are a new thing.
Looks like there is yet another 2D fighter (both genders) coming before long, this time for X360. And I thought sure that I would have my first chance to play as a person in a ballgown in s Gouketsuji Ichizoku game!
Also:quote:
I love SoR2, but always found it's only problem was the lack of things like the team moves from SoR1, and neat weapons like the breakable bottle.
This remake lets you play thourgh the original SoR1 and SoR2 paths with all the extra options from the entire series, and if you unlock enough stuff, with a SoR2 Shiva and SoR1 Blaze team. <3
I came a little bit late to SoR in general, but I learned to love it pretty quickly-- this particular genre is one of my favorite time-wasters.
Fortunately I grabbed up the remake almost instantly. I always find it interesting what companies will and won't send a C&D over-- part of me wants to hope that it's more than just a legal move, and that they actually care about the games in question. But then they did cancel the Sega Ages Bare Knuckle compilation a while back, didn't they? Ah well.
[this message was edited by karasu99 on Tue 3 May 06:10] |
| Pollyanna 3029th Post
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| "Re(6):Etrian Atelier Odyssey" , posted Tue 3 May 08:11
quote:
Looks like there is yet another 2D fighter (both genders) coming before long, this time for X360. And I thought sure that I would have my first chance to play as a person in a ballgown in s Gouketsuji Ichizoku game!
I juuuuuust posted something about that...in response to you, no less! It's not as bad as one time when the same news was posted 3 times in one thread within like...2 days, though.
Not that I'm not guilty of missing stuff too, though. For example, I never answered Badoor's question about the boss in the El Shaddai demo. I will answer it now: I put up a good fight a few times, but like everything else in the game, he seemed to take too many hits.
-----
I finished Super Robot Wars on PSP. Truly a fantastic game. I didn't play the first Z, so maybe it was this good and I just didn't know. Still, it instantly became one of my all-time favorite SRPGS. I don't think it would be nearly as good if I didn't shoot for the SR points on ever level (really, that's the way to play!). For once, the team customization really came together, and it was great to think "what went well, and what needs work?" then tweak accordingly after every level. I was really proud of my team by the end.
I'm already rambling and I could go on forever, so I think I'll stop now, since I'm not sure many people are interested in the game anyway. Still, if you're on the line about SRW, I think this is game to play.
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
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| karasu99 595th Post
PSN: robotchris
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New Red Carpet Member
| "Re(7):Etrian Atelier Odyssey" , posted Tue 3 May 08:57:
quote:
I juuuuuust posted something about that...in response to you, no less! It's not as bad as one time when the same news was posted 3 times in one thread within like...2 days, though.
Gah, not sure how I missed your post but I totally did. I apologize-- I didn't do it intentionally.
quote:
I finished Super Robot Wars on PSP. Truly a fantastic game. I didn't play the first Z, so maybe it was this good and I just didn't know. Still, it instantly became one of my all-time favorite SRPGS. I don't think it would be nearly as good if I didn't shoot for the SR points on ever level (really, that's the way to play!). For once, the team customization really came together, and it was great to think "what went well, and what needs work?" then tweak accordingly after every level. I was really proud of my team by the end.
I'm already rambling and I could go on forever, so I think I'll stop now, since I'm not sure many people are interested in the game anyway. Still, if you're on the line about SRW, I think this is game to play.
I would love to hear more about this. I've played a few games in the series mainly because I am a huge Super Robot fan, but I've been seriously considering this. Perhaps you have indeed pushed me over the edge.
[this message was edited by karasu99 on Tue 3 May 12:18] |
| Pollyanna 3030th Post
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| "Re(8):Etrian Atelier Odyssey" , posted Tue 3 May 12:55
quote:
I would love to hear more about this. I've played a few games in the series mainly because I am a huge Super Robot fan, but I've been seriously considering this. Perhaps you have indeed pushed me over the edge.
Well, let me tell you where I'm coming from as a SRW pseudo fan, because it might put things into perspective. I played Alpha 1, 2 and 3, Impact, MX one of the SFami ones (don't remember which) and erm...I think the first OG one on PS2. Overall MX was my favorite, but I didn't actually finish any of the games. I enjoyed the robots and the theme songs and the systems, but I felt like the level design was incredibly poor. The extreme in and out of enemies (5 show up, 1 turn later 3 retreat, 30 come, 10 leave, 3 bosses come, 15 units appear, one of the bosses leaves, etc...) made it impossible to strategize. The levels bored on for far too long, sometimes just the wrong unit would die in an event you couldn't possibly anticipate and in general, it wasn't the least bit challenging. After I had already seen most of the animations, I was sick to death of the games.
Some of this may have been my fault for worrying more about winning and less about getting SR points, though.
Still, I feel like every problem I had with the previous games was lovingly ironed out in Z2. Even the usually erratic story worked out fairly well. The cost is that not every series is represented very much in the main story. You might get one scenario for a number of the series. For Gundam 00, God Mars, Gurren Lagann and Code Geass you get a lot. I stayed on Earth whenever I could, so it was mostly Gurren Lagann and God Mars for me. Anyway, the whole thing felt more focused with the main plot propelling the story forward.
Like the previous games, the story splits at several points, but only for relatively short intervals, usually involving scenarios that introduce new troops. I never felt torn away from my favorite units for too long and it gave me a chance to try some new tactics out with other units. Since most of the SR point objectives are "do this within a certain number of turns", you're always working on ways to maximize the effectiveness of your team.
One thing I really liked is that units that weren't involved in a mission get to do things as well. Get money, PP, EXP or kills. They apply it retroactively, which is very nice. Like, you choose what they DID while you were on the mission and it gives you the bonus immediately. Not like you have to choose who you're not going to use and leave them out of commission.
I had fun prioritizing my favorites toward the end, after I had tried everyone out and built the team how I liked it. By the end, I only had about 7 aces (70+ kills...they get a bonus for it) and maybe 5 units that were fully upgraded. You get a special bonus (that differs from unit to unit) and your choice of another bonus after you upgrade a unit fully. Even though you have a high level of customization, I feel like the individuality of each unit shined a lot more than in previous games. Trying to find which skills to learn to bring out their best points was a lot of fun, and although there were some obvious winners in the bunch, I found a large number of "diamond in the rough" units that could be shockingly effective with a little massaging.
Admittedly, I'm a bit biased toward this game because it has so many of my favorites. I never thought I'd see Turn A Gundam, Gurren Lagann and King Gainer together. I was happy to see Zambot 3, Big O and Eureka 7 again, too...and God Mars, despite being a lame robot, was really well implemented and lots of fun to use. If they had Giant Robo, they'd have all of my favorites.
Some of my "B-rank" favorites like Daimos or the J9 series were sadly missing and I can't help but feel like we don't need Zambot 3, Daitarn 3 AND Trider at the cost of a potentially more unique super robot. Still, it's my favorite cast all together, even with all the Gundam W, Seed and X robots (in my opinion) stinking it up.
My complaints are all fairly petty. They avoid the constant in and out of units after the first 8 missions or so...which is very nice. It's more like Queen's Blade where you can expect 1 or 2 big intrusions every level, but not utter chaos.
The SR point objectives are usually quite fun, but there were a few exceptions that really got on my nerves. For example, the game will LIE to you sometimes, which is very frustrating. In one level, the SR point objective is "Kill all units within 6 turns." Fair enough. Then, (expectedly) some bosses show up. The objective then changes to "Kill this boss within 6 turns". That tells me that I no longer need to kill the other enemies. However, when I beat the boss, it changes BACK to "kill all enemies". That's just stupid! The objective never changed! You had to kill all the enemies all along, so why did they intentionally mislead you!? I understand that the objectives can only spill so much information, or it will spoil the fight. You have to think "I should pace myself because I'm sure bosses are going to show up." That's fine...that's fun, even, but there were a few instances where the game gave you intentionally false information. I would've preferred something vague, or the objective being hidden by question marks (which they did sometimes anyway) than an outright lie.
There is also an occasional balance issue. Assuming you're going for the SR points, I would say the challenge in the game is just about right. However, there are 3 truly difficult fights (regardless of the points) that are sometimes framed with stupidly easy ones. Having a unit that specializes in accuracy have a 0% chance of hitting a target is just silly. I understand that Mazinger is probably going to need a SP skill to hit a fancy boss, but Zeta Gundam should at least have...like... a 20% chance!? Not zero!
Still, the balance is tremendously better than any other SRW game I've played, with a much more enjoyable team dynamic as well.
Oh, one final note... although they have done this to an extent in previous series, in this one they did a remarkable job on preserving the effects of the respective series. Like...Gainax explosions look a certain way and they're (fairly well) reproduced in the game. 70s anime laser effects are very distinct and lovingly rendered. The animations are better than ever and some of the situational (battle) dialogues between unrelated series were really amusing.
I rattled off most of my opinions on the game, minus my rants about favorite units and what to do with them (unexpectedly, Fa was the backbone of my team), but if you have any other questions, as you can tell, I'm quite excited to talk about the game.
I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend it.
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| karasu99 596th Post
PSN: robotchris
XBL: robotchris
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New Red Carpet Member
| "Re(9):Etrian Atelier Odyssey" , posted Wed 4 May 04:14
quote:
Well, let me tell you where I'm coming from as a SRW pseudo fan, because it might put things into perspective. I played Alpha 1, 2 and 3, Impact, MX one of the SFami ones (don't remember which) and erm...I think the first OG one on PS2. Overall MX was my favorite, but I didn't actually finish any of the games. I enjoyed the robots and the theme songs and the systems, but I felt like the level design was incredibly poor. The extreme in and out of enemies (5 show up, 1 turn later 3 retreat, 30 come, 10 leave, 3 bosses come, 15 units appear, one of the bosses leaves, etc...) made it impossible to strategize.
Wow, thanks for being so detailed! Yes, I loved MX as well, and Alpha 3, and I played but did not care for Advance on the PSP and the one that I can't recall the name of that was on the DS. Plus I played at least one of the GBA ones, although I don't recall which one. My biggest complaints about the series are that the levels are often waaaay too long for no particular reason, and that too often they never include all of my favorite robots (Alpha 3 came the closest). Sounds like the average level length is better in this one though, if I understand you correctly.
I would be curious to hear what units you found to be the obvious gems and which were the diamonds in the rough. I'm always surprised at these last ones-- in MX it was the Dragonar team, which I would never have guessed I would enjoy so much. As far as the Gundams series go, I like that at least one of the includes ones is Gundam X. 
As cheesy as the storyline usually is in games in this series, I'm still always a sucker for all of my favorites collaborating to fight the teamed-up enemies from several different shows.
Okay, while I have been typing this, I went ahead and ordered it  . Damn you and your persuasive arguments!
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| Pollyanna 3031th Post
PSN: Lilly_Dopamine
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Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(10):Etrian Atelier Odyssey" , posted Wed 4 May 07:31
quote:
My biggest complaints about the series are that the levels are often waaaay too long for no particular reason, and that too often they never include all of my favorite robots (Alpha 3 came the closest). Sounds like the average level length is better in this one though, if I understand you correctly.
I would be curious to hear what units you found to be the obvious gems and which were the diamonds in the rough. I'm always surprised at these last ones-- in MX it was the Dragonar team, which I would never have guessed I would enjoy so much.
The pace in this game is VERY fast. There are maybe 4 or 5 maps that have many parts, or a ludicrous number of enemy units, but on the whole, the battles are quick and decisive. Some SR point requirements will be "finish in 2 turns". Then maybe a boss will show up and you'll have 2 more. Few fights go over 6 turns. As such, it requires a different sort of strategy...really trying to maximize what you can do in one turn or with your counters. Mobility is VERY important.
For example (and I hope my personal choices don't end up spoiling your experience of finding good units of your own), one of my favorite units was Gain (Emperanza). He's a sniper-type with all of his good attacks only coming from a non-moving position. I mean...you can't move AND shoot with him. He provides support fire, but his mobility isn't that great. I equipped him with "hit and away" (so he could move AFTER attacking-a great skill for battleships), items to increase his range and upgrades to up his crit rate. He never got hit and his damage was crazy for the type of unit he was... I just had to keep him standing in the right spot.
Cynthia, from King Gainer was great too, because she was totally invincible....hahaha. She and Gainer (not Gain) were kind of opposites. She burned out quickly and he built up slowly. I liked to think of it as "Gainer is hard to motivate and Cynthia gets bored easily". The order in which you make your units attack was really important, because you had to manage morale so much. Some units could strike hard early (Mazinger) and others were completely useless until you got their morale up. Switching up the order of 2 units could make all the difference in the world.
My most useful unit (excluding Big O for its ludicrous, non-EN dependent damage) was probably Fa, though. She gets a skill that lets her give SP to another pilot. Since she was totally unnecessary as a battle unit, I spent her PP on mobility and SP-up skills. I also gave her an item that rejuvenated SP. When you're fighting multiple bosses, it's really easy to bottom out on SP, so if I'm able to get two more of Big-O's tamashii-boosted 230000 damage attacks out, that's a big deal. As usual, a lot of pilots with big damage also have garbage accuracy, so they end up completely useless when they run out of SP.
I had some units that were just never that great, though. I HAD to use the Turn A units, but both Loran and Harry were just so-so. Harry was insanely reliable with high accuracy, good dodge rates, support fire and low EN consumption, but by the end of the game he just wasn't bringing in enough damage. Loran provided both support fire and blocking, but suffered the same fate as Harry. I think my mistake was using both of them. Either or might have made a great addition, but together, they didn't distinguish themselves.
I couldn't find a good place for Char and Kamille, either. I used them all the time, but they were just okay. Amuro distinguished himself immediately (with his double attack) without the need of any massaging.
One regret is that I switched to using Getter 2 a lot more than Getter 1 part-way through the game, so neither pilot ended up getting ace status. Getter Robo is a beast because of its 3 pilots, each one getting a Getter Change Attack without the use of any EN. Getter 2's dodge rate and crazy mobility make it obviously useful.
I'm really babbling here, but I'll leave with one possible suggestion: consider upgrading EN to max on a lot of units and dodge to max on dodge-type units. Up until the later fights, when they were absolutely necessary, I stayed away from using refueling units too much because the pace of the battle was too fast to bother. If you go that path, a LOT of units run out of EN very quickly. With the dodge units, well..some of them will be completely invincible with a high enough dodge rate, freeing up the necessity to upgrade armor or HP.
Oh, and in reply to what you said...I thought Dragonnar was really lame as a series, but you're right-they were super fun to use in the game. My irritation at being forced to use them passed very quickly. Another old favorite was the Dunbine units in Impact. That was my first SRW though, so my memories of it might be a little "off".
Oh oh! And question... what are your favorite series? And did you play Scramble Commander?
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
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| Loona 404th Post
PSN: IkariLoona
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Gold Customer
| "Re(2):Re(10):Etrian Atelier Odyssey" , posted Wed 4 May 18:37
quote:
The pace in this game is VERY fast. There are maybe 4 or 5 maps that have many parts, or a ludicrous number of enemy units, but on the whole, the battles are quick and decisive. Some SR point requirements will be "finish in 2 turns".
Nice, they seem to have taken into account this is for a portable - my major exerience with the series is with the translated SRW3 for the SNES, and things could slog a bit there. Then again, they've already had plenty of experience with portables by now.
I'm currently in the process of ordering SRW W, as I read good things about this - also, Nadesico, Voltron GoLion and tolerable originals.
Z2 is terribly tempting, especially considering how this release is meant to affect and 2nd part - I wonder when that will be... by the look of things, I may have to hurry up, as it might be sold out by the time Queen's Gate is released.
Still, I wonder how enjoyable it will be considering I can't read the language - I'll b missing out on all the dialogue, but I really feel like rewarding Banpresto for finally adding DaiGuard (he's so getting every upgrade I can get away with giving it).
"Beat the machine that works in your head!" - Guano Apes "Open Your Eyes"
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| Pollyanna 3032th Post
PSN: Lilly_Dopamine
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Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(3):Re(10):Etrian Atelier Odyssey" , posted Wed 4 May 19:04
quote:
Still, I wonder how enjoyable it will be considering I can't read the language - I'll b missing out on all the dialogue, but I really feel like rewarding Banpresto for finally adding DaiGuard (he's so getting every upgrade I can get away with giving it).
http://akurasu.net/wiki/Super_Robot_Wars/Z2 has all the menus and such translated, along with a plot summary. Honestly, I don't consider the plot a major selling point, as most of it is just recycled scenarios from the original series. The overall plot is serviceable, but I still skipped through a lot of the scenes. Of course, I can't tell you what YOU want from the game.
Dai Guard is one of only 2 units that can refuel, so it's pretty invaluable later on, even if it's mediocre at everything else. Love that theme song.
I wonder what Kittan is good for, though...
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
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| karasu99 599th Post
PSN: robotchris
XBL: robotchris
Wii: n/a
New Red Carpet Member
| "Robo Odyssey" , posted Thu 5 May 01:10:
quote:
Oh, and in reply to what you said...I thought Dragonnar was really lame as a series, but you're right-they were super fun to use in the game. My irritation at being forced to use them passed very quickly. Another old favorite was the Dunbine units in Impact. That was my first SRW though, so my memories of it might be a little "off".
Oh oh! And question... what are your favorite series? And did you play Scramble Commander?
Gah, now I'm getting really excited! Fast pace and lots of great units! I have to say, I very nearly bought Z and the Z append disc as well-- I can get carried away about these kinds of things.
My favorite series are hard to narrow down, but at the top is Yuusha Reideen, followed very closely by Getter Robo and Getter Robo G. I also really loved having all three of the 'robot romance trilogy' robots in Alpha 3 (Combattler, Voltes, and Daimos). I ended up liking quite a few of the real robots as time went on, especially in MX-- as mentioned, Dragonnar was great, as was the G-Gundam crew. EDIT: I can point to the other end of my preferences as well-- I would be totally happy if SRW never contained Gundam Wing ever again. Not like that will ever happen!
Oh, and I've never played Scramble Commander. Should I?
[this message was edited by karasu99 on Thu 5 May 01:21] |
| Pollyanna 3033th Post
PSN: Lilly_Dopamine
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Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(1):Robo Odyssey" , posted Thu 5 May 07:30
quote:
Wow, thanks Polly. When I heard that Z2 was coming for PSP I really didn't expect them to actually reevaluate the pacing of the game. I was just wondering if Z2 feels like one half of a whole length wise.
I seem to have the same background with the series as most of you. My 1st was MX, and I LOVED it. I think that it's a great game to start out with. Great sprite work and arguably the best roster from a classics perspective. I enjoyed having so many fighting type Supers. ViKung-fu should be in every SRT imo. I played through A3, OG1+2, and W. Have any of you tried Super Robot Gakuen? It didn't look very promising to me.
Z2 IS shorter than other SRW games (partially thanks to the shorter fights), but it's not a short game and not one that feels incomplete. Personally, I found the other SRW games to be a bit on the long side. On the downside, the game ended right when I really felt like I had my team just perfect. Still, this is probably a good thing, because tweaking them is one of the greatest joys in the game (for me). I don't like games that go on for ages after you already have the perfect team/strategy and Z2 certainly gives you a few challenging levels at the end to put your experience to the test, but I think maybe...3 more maps would've made it perfect. There's one unit you don't get until the last level and another that rejoins you right at the very end.
I didn't try Gakuen, because I had all but given up on the series prior to Z2, and that didn't look like the game to bring me back.
quote:
My favorite series are hard to narrow down, but at the top is Yuusha Reideen, followed very closely by Getter Robo and Getter Robo G. I also really loved having all three of the 'robot romance trilogy' robots in Alpha 3 (Combattler, Voltes, and Daimos). I ended up liking quite a few of the real robots as time went on, especially in MX-- as mentioned, Dragonnar was great, as was the G-Gundam crew. EDIT: I can point to the other end of my preferences as well-- I would be totally happy if SRW never contained Gundam Wing ever again. Not like that will ever happen!
Oh, and I've never played Scramble Commander. Should I?
Argh! I forgot about Reideen! I kept thinking "other than Combattler V, there's an obvious omission here!" in Z2. G Gundam is another big favorite of mine, especially because of their morale power ups. G Gundam is actually the only non-Tomino Gundam I like. Still, they had too many of the "more powerful" modern Gundams in Z2 to bother squeezing them in this time.
Anyway, before Z2, Scramble Commander was probably my favorite SRW, although that's kind of like SFEX being your favorite Street Fighter. I can't say the game was great, but it had more focus than the other SRW games, even if the genre was completely different.
It was an exciting, if a bit clumsy, real-time strategy game. It was kind of the opposite of normal SRW, where the robots look perfect doing their special moves, but the levels themselves don't feel like watching an anime. Scramble Commander really put you in the situation. When your Evas suddenly went berserk and turned on your team, you were shocked and had to act fast. When Char snipes you and you chase him into the woods, you're really looking around and going "damn! Where did he go!?" When you're defending a base against a wave after wave of enemies, you're really sweating.
On the downside, the robots looked ridiculous in action and you only had so much control over them. In particular, I remember my own units dodging enemy fire straight into my super moves (which actually looked good). When you used a breast of fire, you had to make sure the area was clear.
I never played the 2nd game, though. It came out a bad time and I rarely go back to play something if I miss the bus the first time. Anyway, I recommended SC highly when it came out, but I don't know if I would say it's worth the investment these days, unless you're really curious and can nab it for cheap.
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
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| karasu99 601th Post
PSN: robotchris
XBL: robotchris
Wii: n/a
Red Carpet Regular Member
| "Re(2):Robo Odyssey" , posted Fri 6 May 00:59
quote:
Argh! I forgot about Reideen! I kept thinking "other than Combattler V, there's an obvious omission here!" in Z2. G Gundam is another big favorite of mine, especially because of their morale power ups. G Gundam is actually the only non-Tomino Gundam I like. Still, they had too many of the "more powerful" modern Gundams in Z2 to bother squeezing them in this time.
I actually forgot one other as well-- Gaiking! He's been in many games in the series but almost always the ones I haven't played. Ah well, here is hoping that Z2 part 2 has some of these favorites. And Machine Robo!
From your description I'm not sure I would love Scramble Commander. One of the big draws for me (and I'm sure a lot of people, given how many 'encyclopedia' discs have been released) is, as silly as it may sound, the quality of the attack animations-- I even enjoy the bad guys' animations.
Also, I forgot to thank you for linking to that awesome resource page for Z2. I'm generally competent enough to play these games without too much assistance, but it's nice to have so much info in one place. Plus it has that nice handy cross reference of series-to-game!
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| maese 628th Post
Red Carpet Regular Member
| "Re(1):SoulCalibur V: Mark Of The Wolves" , posted Wed 11 May 21:01:
quote:
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/05/11/soul_calibur_v_announced/
Just announced. Takes place 17 years after SCIV. Super-Milf (Gilf maybe?) Ivy confirmed?
In all seriousness, I really like this idea of moving on with the timeline ala MOTW/ Tekken 3 but It's strange to see that NOW when every other Fighting game series is trying to use nostalgia and harken back to it's nostalgia & glory days with fan favorite characters and such. The weirdest part to me is that this was announced in Dubai, just a fee miles from where I am which is just weirdly ominous.
Whoa, as an old guard Soul series fan, that news made my day. That's like the most sensible decision Namco has made in years. By the time of SC2 the old characters were getting a bit too weary already. The series was in dire need of something new.
Let's hope this timeline change will bring that much needed freshness to the series and put it back on the spotlight, where it belongs. And let's pray they don't forget to include some delicious milf Xianghua, Taki's tsundere kunoichi teen student and a Paul Phoenix style dirty old geezer Mitsurugi. Man, it's 1998 all over again! I feel so hyped about this!
EDIT: that Tekken CG movie looks quite sweet, a pleasant surprise indeed! And the Gyakuten Saiban movie rumour sounds promising but too fishy... Miike is directing? Nah, I don't buy it.
[this message was edited by maese on Wed 11 May 21:49] |
| sibarraz
109th Post
PSN: n/a
XBL: sibarraz4life
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Regular Customer
| "Re(5):Cave news" , posted Sun 22 May 03:24
quote:
Small trivia: For some reason, Cave is located in a government building. I guess they were looking for tenants, but it's kind of weird. Citizen services on one floor, waterworks department on another floor, then there's... Cave.
That's very random lol
Well, from DS II X, I want to buy the game, but problem is that is only avaliable on the north american market place, and lots of times those games had region lock
About the Q sound intro, I like some of them, but in the majority sound just don't sound right, the MVS intro has less sounds but the variety has been better aplied
Btw, arcade edition will need the super street fighter IV disc or I could buy it as an stand alone game for games on demand?
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| Pollyanna 3039th Post
PSN: Lilly_Dopamine
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Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(4):NA Shooter again" , posted Sat 4 Jun 09:00
URGENT MESSAGE:
Tactics Ogre fans, artbook fans, buy this:
yes
I just wish they had the dialogue picture bigger. Sometimes they bring out little subtleties that the illustrations lack.
quote:
It baffles me why anyone would want disgusting filters obscuring beautiful sprite work... but it also baffles me why anyone would want to play SSF2T HDR and go as far as to ask for more hideous abortions in that vein afterwards.
This reminds me of a wound in my heart. All the hate that the graphics in KOF12 received really hurt me. It was like having the most beautiful daughter in the world who couldn't get a date to prom.
I can't stand filters like that myself. They're like censor bars for people who don't want to see pixels. It's like getting drunk and hooking up with an ugly person. That person still looks the same, you just can't tell any more! No wait...maybe it's more like stabbing yourself in the eyes, then hooking up with an ugly person, only the person isn't actually ugly, you just have really terrible taste.
I was saddened by the responses to the SF3 filter shot. Acceptable responses include:
1: I am dumb and hate pixels, so I'm glad I don't have to look at them anymore.
2: I am smart and I am going to turn that filter off.
Unacceptable responses include fury at the inclusion of a filter whatsoever and insistence they they should've done it just like HDR. I might be SUPER out of touch with the world, though, if there are a significant number of people out there who think HDR looks better than SF3.
quote:
Anybody played either Otomedius game? It always struck me as Parodius, but with crappy character design.
Awww... I think Mine Yoshizaki is very good at what he does! He's also very good at mascot characters, though, so I'd like to see some of those talents put to use in Otomedius. Actually, I'd rather it just not be polygons. I thought Deathsmiles looked awesome in its badness, but Otomedius just comes across as cheap-looking to me.
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
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| Pollyanna 3040th Post
PSN: Lilly_Dopamine
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Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(6):NA Shooter again" , posted Sun 5 Jun 04:08
quote:
Well, I guess it's just not to my taste. Maybe I just shouldn't take it so seriously.
As for Deathsmiles I really wish it they had not gone with polys-- some of the ridiculous designs would look much better in pixels, but it's still pretty fun. OH and I just got Akai Katana too! I hear it's quite good but I literally just got it so I can't say for sure yet.
Are you a big Parodius fan? I played Parodius 2 a lot, but the problem I have with it (and Gradius) is that you rely so much on powerups. If you're aiming for a 1 credit win, that makes sense, but I'm not good enough to win any shooter in one credit.
Of course, I'd love it if Deathsmiles was in 2D too, but the "stop motion animation" look does have its charm, particularly with Tyrannosatan. I don't see any charm in the 3D in Otomedius, though.
I'm interested in Akai Katana like any other Cave shooter, but I can't see myself paying import prices for it. Ah! Wait...I forgot...do you have a Japanese 360, or a modded one? Ironically, I didn't play Deathsmiles until I got a US 360 a few months ago...
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
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| karasu99 637th Post
PSN: robotchris
XBL: robotchris
Wii: n/a
Red Carpet Regular Member
| "Re(7):NA Shooter again" , posted Sun 5 Jun 13:19
quote:
Are you a big Parodius fan? I played Parodius 2 a lot, but the problem I have with it (and Gradius) is that you rely so much on powerups. If you're aiming for a 1 credit win, that makes sense, but I'm not good enough to win any shooter in one credit.
I love Parodius! The sprite work is perfect-- there's so much detail and so much care is obvious in it. My favorite in the series is probably Sexy Parodius, although the Super Famicom version of Goukujou Pariodius is great as well.
I know what you mean about the powerup dependence, but it's always been what encourages me to try and one-credit it.
quote:
Of course, I'd love it if Deathsmiles was in 2D too, but the "stop motion animation" look does have its charm, particularly with Tyrannosatan. I don't see any charm in the 3D in Otomedius, though.
I'm interested in Akai Katana like any other Cave shooter, but I can't see myself paying import prices for it. Ah! Wait...I forgot...do you have a Japanese 360, or a modded one? Ironically, I didn't play Deathsmiles until I got a US 360 a few months ago...
I'm still not sure exactly why the prices are so high for Cave stuff, even compared to other imports. That said, I love their shooters so much I just end up springing for them every time. I have a Japan region XBox360 that I got exclusively to play them, as a matter of fact. I'm not quite at the point where I would build a whole TATE setup though.
If you enjoy shooters though, you might want to spring for Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu (and/or Black label)-- it's far and and away the best shooter I've ever played. AND it's got a great soundtrack.
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| Maou 2201th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Shooterfest" , posted Sun 5 Jun 14:30
quote:
the problem I have with it (and Gradius) is that you rely so much on powerups
Did someone say Graaaaaaaaaaaaaadius? Especially Gradius V, which I just played this afternoon?! What a wonderful experience (I had somehow never played it before), in the same way that Ikaruga is (though without the beautiful wabi-sabi simplicity of Ikaruga, I admit). I wasn't aware until a friend pointed it out that Gradius V was like a Konami-Treasure super-reunion with Treasure at the helm...no hard feelings in production, apparently, because it plays well. It's like if Square hired Sakaguchi to make a good Final Fantasy again!
quote:
Karasu: Sexy Parodius
Yes yes yes! I remember being quite young and having Sexy Parodius be one of the first games to catch my previously Mario-obsessed eye as, ah, "sexy!" It's such a blast. Speaking of sexy shooters, I forget, is there love at the Cafe for SENGOKU BLADE? It's tragically short but marvelous feudal sci-fi fun, especially with the back-and-forth banter in co-op mode. It's really cool when the cyborg ninja joins you after you win.
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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| Spoon 2163th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Witcher 2 is super awesome" , posted Sun 5 Jun 14:50
.... even in spite of having bugs that literally make you lose control of your character in combat where you can die in a single digit number of hits.
It has some of the most believably arrogant and boorish characters I've seen in a video game. It takes awhile to figure out when you're going to get which attack animation (which is really quite important, since you can die so easily and all the attack animations take a significant amount of time), and while you can dodge cancel, dodges don't have invulnerability. It's a gory, violent game, but it isn't as comically in-your-face about it as Dragon Age was, where you could probably fight rabbits and come out of it looking like you were just in an out-of-control abbatoir. The facial animation is ok at best, but everything else about the game looks pretty great, even without a super-powered computer. It has an item named "Mail Enhancement", and it's not even a joke item.
You can also equip a soup ladle as one of your swords, and it makes every in-game cutscene look incredibly awesome.
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| Pollyanna 3043th Post
PSN: Lilly_Dopamine
XBL: n/a
Wii: n/a
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(8):NA Shooter again" , posted Mon 6 Jun 05:28
quote:
If you enjoy shooters though, you might want to spring for Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu (and/or Black label)-- it's far and and away the best shooter I've ever played. AND it's got a great soundtrack.
If only I could download it for $30. Speaking of which, is Deathsmiles 2 any good?
It's almost pointless for me to talk about shooters, though. It's like tlaking to a fighting game fan who never plays VS. I do enjoy shooters in my own way, but the only series I'm really into is Touhou, because it gives me really clear goals, like the old "3 continues to win it" system.
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Speaking of sexy shooters, I forget, is there love at the Cafe for SENGOKU BLADE? It's tragically short but marvelous feudal sci-fi fun, especially with the back-and-forth banter in co-op mode.
This is one of those games I loved when I first played, but have no idea how well it holds up today. I have fond memories, though. I was always happy to play non-spaceship shooters... Keio, Robo Aleste, Lords of Thunder. (Hello Sega CD!)
I tried playing Lords of Thunder a while back and was so frustrated by the shooting blips drowning out the amazing soundtrack that I had to quit after only 2 levels.
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It's a gory, violent game, but it isn't as comically in-your-face about it as Dragon Age was, where you could probably fight rabbits and come out of it looking like you were just in an out-of-control abbatoir.
I'm mildly interested in the Witcher, but I only recently played Dragon Age and it left a horrible taste in my mouth. I was able to "fix" the repulsive graphics with a heaping helping of mods, but the difficulty balance in the game was just shot to hell. The battles were grueling and monotonous...they just wore me down. And it would swing from absurdly difficult random encounters to impossibly easy boss fights again and again. I loved the dialogue, the relative freedom of choice and the characters, but the game itself was sloppy sloppy.
I like a challenge, but Dragon Age was challenging 1/3 of the time, boring 1/3 of the time and infuriating the other 1/3. With that in mind, how do you think the Witcher will fare (for me)?
This guy from Bioware gave it a 0! I can trust him, right? Maybe I should just play Dragon Age 2!
wow
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
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| Spoon 2165th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(9):NA Shooter again" , posted Mon 6 Jun 08:57:
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Dragon Age stuffs
I honestly didn't go through all of Dragon Age 1, though I did go through Dragon Age 2. Dragon Age 2 suffers from a similar balance problem in that it feels like every enemy that isn't a boss is trivial, with the exception of the Rock Wraiths because they can stunlock you from range. So I sympathize.
The combat in W2 is quite challenging at the outset. Think about how in God Hand, if you stopped moving even the ordinary enemies could kill you quickly, and bosses would annihilate you. As the game progresses, the combat steadily gets easier as your character grows more powerful, though there are spiky bits with some of the bosses. You are only in control of one character, so there is quite a bit more you do with him, and unlike most other RPGs where you can drink potions/cast healing spell/etc., the most you can do in this game is pre-emptively drink potions that very slightly increase your health regeneration. You can also cast a spell that makes you impervious to 1 or 2 physical hits, but you can't do that all the time, and tapping yourself out takes away your ability to block. I know you played ME2, so for comparison: in ME2, the game's difficulty felt uniform throughout; one of the oddities of the game is that for me, it never felt like it got easier or harder unless I didn't bother to assign skill points for many levels... which to me felt really strange, because it didn't make sense that an enemy soldier who looks and behaves identically throughout the game is just as tough when Shepard is level 1 as when Shepard is level 10. Just like in Resident Evil 5, there was also a scheme which scaled enemy durability and attack power up as you performed better, which I definitely think was a factor in that uniform feeling. In Witcher 2, plain old enemy soldiers are absolutely deadly when you are level 1, and are still quite capable of killing you at level 10, though it's noticeably more difficult for them to do so. The combat still has notable flaws (the ranged weapon targetting/aiming feels sluggish/clumsy, attack animations feel like they take too long when you are starting to play, the autotargetting can switch your target at really bad times if you don't lock on to somebody...), but that's a matter of clumsiness as opposed to balance. The game is also much shorter than Dragon Age 1, and I'm sure that the sheer length of the game made all the problems with the game just that much more irritating. The game makes it pretty obvious which are the things you have to do if you just want to push the main story along, and if you are so inclined, you can beat the game pretty quickly for an RPG if you just rush along that path.
Many of the characters are quite endearing, and while not all of them are complex, they are all very believable. The illusion of choice is much stronger in W2, even if the decisions are not all quite so grandiose as the ones in Dragon Age. Many of the goals of Dragon Age 2 in terms of story, setting, and design were very idealistic (e.g. make the game about a very particular place, make it intimately about a character and that character's actions as they are getting swept through the events of that particular place rather than about saving the world as usual against some big bad evil, make the combat fast/intimate/visceral/action-y, streamline....) were all achieved to varying degrees in DA2, but very successfully in W2.
It is not as astonishing in its unique design elements as Demon's Soul, nor does it encourage you to play it again and again purely for gameplay reasons. There are a few points where the game branches significantly and you will be in different places, with different quests, interacting with different characters, etc., but really this is going to make you play the game again once, maybe twice, as opposed to playing the game every day for weeks because you want to invade other people's games or go through the game in pure black world tendency with all the NPCs murdered using a barbarian.
Wow, that's a lot of text!
[this message was edited by Spoon on Mon 6 Jun 09:01] |
| Pollyanna 3045th Post
PSN: Lilly_Dopamine
XBL: n/a
Wii: n/a
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(10):NA Shooter again" , posted Mon 6 Jun 12:23
quote:
Wow, that's a lot of text!
Thanks for the extensive reply. I'll probably pick up the game when it goes on sale...or if I have a lapse in work or games to play.
My only remaining concern from what you said is that it might get too easy as it goes along? This is a big problem for me in games, where I enjoy the learning process, but when there's nothing else to learn, the game becomes boring. End of Eternity did this to me, where it demanded that I get good at it...then made me get so good that it became boring. The whole second half of Lost Odyssey was terribly boring as well for the same reason.
I think SMT3 did it best, where I felt invincible only by the end. Eventually, I was like "You have thrown everything you could possibly thrown at me and I've done it. Whatever is next, I know I can handle!"
But if you're likening it to God Hand...yeah, that was like...terrifying at first, then (in my opinion) perfectly balanced. I don't need "hard", I just need "consistently engaging". You make it sound like the system is exciting enough to keep you interested regardless of if it's difficult or not.
青春謳歌 弱肉強食
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| karasu99 640th Post
PSN: robotchris
XBL: robotchris
Wii: n/a
Red Carpet Regular Member
| "Re(9):NA Shooter again" , posted Tue 7 Jun 00:28:
quote:
If only I could download it for $30. Speaking of which, is Deathsmiles 2 any good?
I would not be surprised to see DDP DFK made available in the same way as Deathsmiles 2. Apparently Cave has made a killing on it on the iOS app store.
D2 is... not bad. I bought it to see if they had addressed the difficulty (lack of it, that is) issues from D1, as well as to support Cave's efforts in the West. They have not-- I was able to beat it with a credit the first time I played it, and I was tipsy at the time. I should note that I'm not some insane twitch master or something-- I find many of Cave's games to be genuinely hard.
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Speaking of sexy shooters, I forget, is there love at the Cafe for SENGOKU BLADE? It's tragically short but marvelous feudal sci-fi fun, especially with the back-and-forth banter in co-op mode.
Love love love Sengoku Blade! Love love love Psikyo games in general, especially Gunbird! I am apparently a shooter fan rarity in that I enjoy the entire breadth of the genre's history, all the way back to Space Invaders (which I played Saturday night, as a matter of fact). There are some games I like more than others, but even more that fighting games, shooters are my favorites. I get a strange sort of solace from playing them, and if they look wonderful (like Snegoku Blade does) all the better!
Speaking of looking good, I played Akai Katana, finally, this morning, and... WOW. It's simply amazing looking! The system will take some getting used to, but it's got that same weird semi-antiquated militaristic look as Progear and Battle Garegga-- the bosses (the ones I got to, at least) are people like in Espgaluda, but they... well, for lack of a better way of describing it, they 'summon' battleships and bombers and warships that emerge from portals, shoot at you, and then disappear. VERY stylish. VERY beautiful. VERY difficult, at least so far. I recommend it.
[this message was edited by karasu99 on Tue 7 Jun 00:39] |
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