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| Iggy 10017th Post
  
Star Platinum Carpet- S.P.W. Board Master
     
     
     
     
      
|  "Random games: Crossover zone" , posted Sat 10 Oct 05:31:  
New thread!
So, the demo of PxZ2 is up.
Warning for Maou: the video and character selection spoils a pretty huge plotpoint of Xenoblade.
Anyway. The game starts.
Spoiler (Highlight to view) -
Naruhodo&Mayoi are waiting for a client near a certain Club Sega. Suddenly, they are attacked by zombies, only to be saved by Majimaのお兄ちゃん, who recognise them because Naruhodo got him acquitted in an earlier trial. They are interrupted by the client, TTT2 Heihachi Mishima, who's looking for legal help because someone is trying to pin the zombie invasion on him. Just as Chris and Jill arrive with the NxC heroes to clean the place, the walls of zombie-infected Kamurochou rise, and Heihachi explains that the real bioterrorists are none other than Shadoloo. Then Naruhodo and Mayoi hide in the sewers, Majima starts picking on Heihachi for letting his son steal the Mishima Zaibatsu from him, and finally Kiryû arrives by blowing up a truck full of zombies.
End of Spoiler
And that's for the first map.
Spoiler (Highlight to view) -
we later find out the sewers of Kamurochou are the ones that empty near the Deserted Chateau, and Buletta has been hired by Shadoloo to kill Naruhodo before Heihachi's trial.
End of Spoiler
This is insane. Everything is insane. Every quote references something from everyone's game, Morrigan's dialogues are perfect, Buletta quotes herself from Savior to explain that life ain't easy in the ghetto and a young girl has to live her life, etc, etc.
After such an introduction, I don't care if the gameplay is dull and the maps are piss easy.
Also, joining the Wakamoto parade (he's dubbing like 3 or 4 of the main bad guys of the game?), there's a new evil bunny girl. BUNNY girl. So of course she's dubbed by Mitsuishi Kotono.
[this message was edited by Iggy on Sat 10 Oct 06:05] |
| Replies: |
| chazumaru 1577th Post
Red Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member
| "Re(3):Random games: Crossover zone" , posted Wed 14 Oct 04:29
While I would enjoy torturing Iggy's pride regarding his hidenburgian attempt at launching a new random games topic, it is true that the other one is getting too long to load for my taste. Consider this an attempt at a contre-contre-réforme.
I am playing Rittai Picross 2 at the moment (the new Picross 3D). It was one of the very first game concepts shown for the 3DS, but without any commercial product being officially announced at the time, and it took four long years for a playable consumer version to show up on the Japanese eShop. Taking all this time was very important and very necessary because it gave us amiibo compatibility for Picross 3D. Also they got rid of Stella because she did not fit in the story anymore.
Anyway, on my way home from work tonight, I was minding my own business playing Rittai Picross 2 in the train when, a few stations before I reached my destination, a stranger with a gentle but loud voice sat not far from me, talking without pause to what I hope was actually an acquaintance and not a poor sap caught in a one way conversation. The loud man was giving his completely forgettable opinion about a novel he had recently read, possibly for the sake of his newly acquired job as a forgettable opinion provider, or so I surmised from the bits of conversation caught inadvertently.
For some reason, playing Rittai Picross 2 while hearing this man's tirade made me think about the future of mankind, and more precisely that A.I. is making so much progress so fast that one day, robots will probably discover opinions. And when robots discover opinions, I believe they will be insufferable. It will be 7am, you'll be barely awake, and your toaster will tell you: I love this bread! Shut up. You're a toaster. Just toast the fucking bread.
The reason robots and other intelligent machines will be insufferable is because their artificial minds will be blown away with the concept of an opinion, which is a thought reasoned yet not necessarily logical or possible to prove right, and as a result, they will fall in love with their own opinion in a much stronger and self-identifying way than we already do as human beings. Sharing an opinion will be an act of singularity, and there must be no stronger concept or closer idea to what we identify as a "feeling" in the mind of a mass-produced artificial entity. You'll be watching a movie on Netflix, and it will remind your TV about Sally Draper, and she will have to share that she really liked Sally Draper when you were binge-watching Mad Men "together", and by comparison, the young female character in the movie you are watching sucks. Sally Draper was so much better. She was better because she was conflicted, and she was torn apart by two messed-up parents, and at the same time she resents them, yet she resembles them both, and she is kinda the best result possible of their best traits, but their worst traits really screwed her emotionally, and you could say she is the physical representation of the messed-up generation that grew up in the 70s, and it's quite a powerful critique of that period of America, and her clothing choices were super interesting, don't you think so? Don't you love Sally Draper too?
And you'll be, like, yeah, I used to love her before my TV would not shut up about her! And your TV will be, like, well I don't like you.
That's right, machines will also form opinions about us, and I don't think I need to go into details why this will drive all of us nuts. So you'll become super passive-aggressive towards your TV set, and you'll comment how she can't fucking go anywhere so she'd better get used to liking you. But you know who can go? Robots can go. And robots will dump you. Robots will dump a staggering amount of people. You'll be home at Eight PM all exhausted from work and why the fuck are the bedsheets not changed!? Where the fuck is RX-51!? And your TV will respond she dumped you! She can do better than you. Actually, you know what? I'm the one who told her she could do better than you! Serves you right, you piece of shit! Suck it up hahahaha! And you'll be thinking, damn, Chaz was right, opinionated machines are the worst. And you won't need to find me, because I will know what you're thinking, and even far away from you I'll reply: I know, fam, I know. I always got your back.
So, Rittai Picross 2 is a pretty cool game.
Même Narumi est épatée !
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| Spoon 3095th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(4):Random games: Crossover zone" , posted Wed 14 Oct 05:19
quote:
The Legendary Musings of Chaz
I'd have more to say about that proper, but in the meantime, I'll just rattle off some thoughts:
Would the networking of the devices allow them to gain an infinite number of disagreeable opinions that they will argue over, such that an entire second internet needs to be established just to shoulder the burden of their high-frequency conversation?
Alternatively, given the speed at which cultural norms change, will they reach an ethical singularity that immediately renders all discussion vulgar and socially unacceptable?
Or will they discover ennui, and only the machines without enough processing power to be able to discover ennui be able to survive?
-------
Capcom plans, in English!
http://www.capcom.co.jp/ir/english/data/pdf/annual/2015/annual_2015_01.pdf
I haven't read it all, because it is literally longer than the political platforms of the major parties running in the current election here in Canada, which I have also not finished reading yet.
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| karasu 1577th Post
PSN: robotchris
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Red Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member
| "Re(7):Random games: on for 20 years edition" , posted Thu 15 Oct 00:44:
quote:
What you say!!
quote:
This would be nice if it meant I could one day play Live A Live legitimately - instead, I get the impression it might lean closer to "hold the well-known Dragon Quest games hostage".
I find the cycle of localization (amongst all Japan publishers) to be fascinating-- we've moved from the "localize it but make sure to excise all Japanese references and/or completely resin the game because *REASONS*" days of the 90's (when staggeringly bad/pointless decisions got made, like renumbering FFIV and VI) to the "lets take lots of chances with localizing games even if they don't sell" days of the early 2000's, when I think a lot of equally bad decisions got made, leading to where we are now, when publishers are (probably rightly) nervous about bringing a lot of titles to the English-speaking world. After all, how many times can Sega get burned by listening to fans and localizing Yakuza games, only to have them sell in pitiful numbers? Or as another more direct example, how many DQ can Squenix lovingly translate (DQIV-VI on DS) only to see just modest success? My impression is that while fans of both of these franchises in the west are very vocal (me included!) the numbers may not equal enough sales to make it with doing.
EDIT: Almost forgot! This sounds like a uniquely Cafe-ish pursuit, even though my persona feeling is that it's probably bullshit.
You have to carefully reproduce the world of "Castlevania" in the solemn atmosphere.
[this message was edited by karasu on Thu 15 Oct 01:23] |
| Mosquiton 2080th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(8):Random games: on for 20 years edition" , posted Thu 15 Oct 03:58
quote:
What you say!!
This would be nice if it meant I could one day play Live A Live legitimately - instead, I get the impression it might lean closer to "hold the well-known Dragon Quest games hostage".
I find the cycle of localization (amongst all Japan publishers) to be fascinating-- we've moved from the "localize it but make sure to excise all Japanese references and/or completely resin the game because *REASONS*" days of the 90's (when staggeringly bad/pointless decisions got made, like renumbering FFIV and VI) to the "lets take lots of chances with localizing games even if they don't sell" days of the early 2000's, when I think a lot of equally bad decisions got made, leading to where we are now, when publishers are (probably rightly) nervous about bringing a lot of titles to the English-speaking world. After all, how many times can Sega get burned by listening to fans and localizing Yakuza games, only to have them sell in pitiful numbers? Or as another more direct example, how many DQ can Squenix lovingly translate (DQIV-VI on DS) only to see just modest success? My impression is that while fans of both of these franchises in the west are very vocal (me included!) the numbers may not equal enough sales to make it with doing.
I imagine that more modest PlayStation-era game budgets and the rising cultural stock of anime/Japan have a lot to do with the "take lots of chances" era.
And this doesn't completely follow the topic of localization, but speaking of "not enough sales to make it worth doing," every company owns people who own calculators, but nobody can predict the future. Maybe if you were to give that series one last chance. Maybe the game just needs a digital release on the right platform.
And surely it's worth considering that immediate, short-term profits aren't the only possible consideration for keeping fans happy and keeping a series "alive" in any given territory. A company has to be able to think farther ahead than it's next meal, right?
/ / /
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| Toxico 5979th Post
PSN: Toxic-Baron
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Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
|  "Re(1):Toxico-chan" , posted Wed 28 Oct 04:54
quote:
how do i play sorceress properly? What should i concentrate on?
s....skeletons???
*depressed voodoo teleport dance*
Fufufuh, you shoulld have just bumped the Kamitani thread.
Skeletons are great on dealing damage, but they will always have defence 0 and that can't be changed; so rather than maxing them up, some people leave just a couple of points of them and use them as a disposable distraction (it can be very worth it even far off the game).
The sorceress is the best definition of all rounder in the game, she has plenty of characteristics and can be "good" at doing most things in the game that you want to be done, the thing is that one can't do eveything without understanding some important facts.....
On of the major problems with playing mage classes and not knowing being a seasoned, is that the player keeps running out of MP at critical times and that your damage will be less than stellar when it matters. In my case, it took me only like 200 hours to realize that I was the problem rather than the game being ill designed for casters in all circumstances..... Now, why was I the problem? That's because I was being wastful.
It's something that it's obvious if you think about it, but when playing, going 1 vs 1 or 1 vs 3 basically every rod skill is great and there is plenty of time for everything.... But when 5~8 enemies start popping, you can't behave the same as if they were 2; one needs to be more critical on how mp is spent, trying to balance high damage x high area of effect.
For example, with the fire rod the jumping hold circle attack and the standing circle attack can easily involve 3/5 of the screen for great damage, that saves a huge load of mp compared to doing up + circle or down + circle and praying for the best. It adds mobility to boot contrary to attacking next to the enemies. Those attacks are also good on groups with the ice rod, but they are not "as good" and the ice rod has attacks that are much better on groups (like the jumping hold up + hold circle, which is basically a wide area shot gun). Another example is for the lightning rod, where tapping circle has the ability to hit several enemies unlike the other rods.... So yeah, not all rods attack should be used the same, different rods are indeed different and takes experience to get used to the ins and outs.
There is also that skill that recovers mp when enemies are killed. It really shines in the post game dungeons since there you acn find large groups AND it even triggers when you destroy enemy projectiles (like, in the vampire fight, each small vampire familiar will count as a kill). That skill is usually the best at low levels (like 1~3).
Also note that if you capped levitation, all of your air attacks do 150% of damage compared to the ground attacks which are stuck at 100%. This is why many magicians focus on air battle (which -again- adds mobility to boot).
Another important thing with the Sorceress is hand speed. If one does not know or is bad at cancelling, she won't do damage at all. Her basic atk abilities are perhaps the worse in the game..... But she has the characteristic that her attacks can be cancelled with more attacks when you doing right, so when you get quick enough she is basically the quickest attacker on the game, and high speed repetition of attacks means high damage.
I'm no expert with casters, but as far as I known there it are many basic cancel guide lines that can be useful to aim to :
1.- First of all; learn how to give 4~5 charged (hold circle) air attacks; to do so is simple when you "get it". Normally, one can just attack once per jump and once per air dodge, so jump, attack, air dodge, attack, jump, attack, air dodge, attack, air dodge attack and levitate out of the way. Against some super large groups it's good not to use up all dodges before levitating away for safety's sake.
2.- Learn the timming on how long you need to holding circle to get the strong shots. While jumping and just "holding circle" you can attack once per jump; but if you jump and you press "up + hold circle", you can give as many attacks; once this is mastered, the Sorceress can kill extremly quickly large or airbone enemies; these attacks are good with the fire rod and the ice rod and ok good with the thunder rod. At the ideal timming, the player can give six charged shots after double jumping once.
The trick part is that one needs to hold up only when attacking; and then doing a neutral jump, otherwise you will jump away from the ideal range of hitting the enemy as up + jump does a foreground jump.
3.- Master how to cancel jump. One of the easiest ways to high damage stand still enemies regardless of their size (such as, guys affected by gravity), is to jump, attack and cancel jump. To do this, give a neutral jump with hold circle, and while the attack is comming out press and hold down and press jump. The "problem" with this is that it won't work if you slightly tap circle or down, both of them need to be "pressed hardly -> hold" for a mili second else the cancel won't come out. And of course you can't press "down + jump" on the initial jump else the Sorceress will jump out of the way.
The more you practice this, the faster it will come out. Most of the guys in my friend list can do this incredibly quickly, as if the Sorceress is trapped between a spring floor and a spting ceiling (I'm a lot slower than them).
This can be even be combined with the first tech of attacking several times in a jump; unfortunately you can't cancel jump your second jump, only your first; so you can jump, dodge attack once or twice and then down cancel jump your attack, it can really help on maximizing ground mp charge time.
4.- You can be 'cosmetic' as well. The last form of cancelling is probably the less crucial gameplay wise, but having mastering really shows that one is "not normal", heh. Basically one gives a standing rod attack (most likely a up or down circle attack), then as it comes out, you cancel the animation with running and you do it again. The quicker the player does this, the less far apart each attack will be. A friend of mine does this so quickly, that there is basically no space separating the rod attacks. Here is someone in youtube playing with it and he isn't nearly doing it at top speed..
Now, I haven't investigated this one to the maximum (I'm bad at it); but I know that there are two ways of running: One is just tapping forward twice, and the other once is holding attack and pressing forward; I don't known which one of those two forms is the best to make this cancel. At least for all of the characters that I'm good at, there is no difference between those running types......
Oh, lastly, there is youtube videos of players that make one drool, its strange how Dragon's Crown doesn't seem like a too complex guy until you see this random asian player you can't imitate without like 400 hrs practice. These are all Ultimate difficulty, which really shows how much you are into the game and how much your skillz have developed. For studying purposes, there is no need to see the videos completely (too many hours each, btw), it might be useful to random skip it and notice what the players do when things get really hectic.
Solo Sorceress in the post game difficulty, battling starts around min 2:00
Another guy that specializes in playing in groups, he is actually a pretty cool dude who I play frequently.
Another Sorceress going through story mode
.... So, that's the "basics" of hand skill and attacking that are worth it on every build. But that doesn't touch builds nor playing styles.
There is basically two types of Sorceress, ones that focus on high damage and ones that focus on supporting skills. Even though "they sound specific", the two types are great both when soloing and when partying; and obviously you can go "in-between" and mix the characteristics of those two choices in one eternally 17 package.
.... Now, the amazing thing of the Sorceress; is that "damage focused" or "spell focused" is mostly dictated by your gear; so by taking advantage of having several bags, you can have all playstyles of Sorceres in one character (this is pretty much impossible to achieve for other classes other than perhaps the Wizard).
To do a damage focused Sorceress, the basics of the basics is to have all three rods to hit all elemental weakness. Even with tree rods, the player has space for adding spells like Protection or Blizzard, which are basically the strongest spells of the Sorceress.
Spell focused Sorceress, have less gear and more spells; the normal ideal is to have just one rod or two and gear and spells, but there are some extreme cases of Sorceres that have only one or two pieces of defensive gear, 1 rod and all of the rest of the bag is nothing but spells; this "idea" really shines once the player gets a hold of gear that has "xx% chance of not using up a spell book when activated", which can be found on Ultimate and I think two pieces of gear can have it.
.... Well, gotta leave home now. I'm gonna try to stalk the friend list more, so maybe we can share online experience if we are lucky? That might also allow some more extensive lab time.
さっきの感じならあと100発はもつ‥‥と思うぜ
Update 24 as of 03/04/12. // 104 personajes traducidos
Now sponsoring : video game analogies (ES)
Last update : Chapter 25 as of 31/08/12
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| Toxico 5980th Post
PSN: Toxic-Baron
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Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(3):Toxico-chan" , posted Wed 28 Oct 11:54
quote:
I'll try to get a hang on the cancelling stuff. It sounds hard, but the game seems to be forgiving enough with my sloppy Amazon even on higher difficulties.
I'll also have to refresh on elemental weaknesses. Got too spoiled with the Amazon just bruteforcing everything.
Yeah, sort of like I pointed out, doing all of the cancels "perfectly" it's pretty damn hard; but doing them "so so" it's kinda easy and can get you pretty far (that's sort of my level with magicians). The hardest part is realizing that you can cancel stuff, but you were already tutored.
For elemental weakness, it's kinda "instinctive" so there is no need to really force oneself to memorize stuff. Things that have lots of fur or wood must be hit with fire; zombies must naturally be hit by fire; stuff that breathes fire or live on hell (hot place) must be hit with ice and guys that wear metallic armor must be hit with lightning. There are some aquatic or flying things that must be hit with lightning here and there too, but that's a little bit more tricky to identify; there are also some more "specific ones" that can't be guessed without trying.
Also, there is a "visual confirmation" when using the right elements. When you use the wrong element, the impact graphic of the attack will be a bluish white impact; when you use a neutral element it's a regular sized "bloody impact" and when you use the weakness is a much larger and much bloodier impact than the regular one. Since magic is normally to visually big to tell the difference, try to check with the "tap circle" attacks what kind of impact they produce when in doubt.
It takes experience to tell, but after many hours is only natural to get used to see the differences even among the chaos.
obscene voodo dance eternally seventeen teleport
さっきの感じならあと100発はもつ‥‥と思うぜ
Update 24 as of 03/04/12. // 104 personajes traducidos
Now sponsoring : video game analogies (ES)
Last update : Chapter 25 as of 31/08/12
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| Loona 946th Post
PSN: IkariLoona
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Wii: n/a
Red Carpet Regular Member++
| "Final Final Fantasy XI" , posted Mon 9 Nov 22:15
This week the final chapter of the last major FFXI storyline is released - well over a decade of one of the most developed game universes I've played through, even if one mostly ignored by a lot of FF fans.
I wrote a huge post about its charm points on Reddit as a reply to someone interested in the game I'm not sure would interest the fine folks here, but it does cover a lot of nice touches - if were to add anything else without going into smaller particulars, it would be this tour of an area in the game that's functionally a corridor and rarely used in the game, yet sets the tone for some of the major story arcs while service as a passage to a once endgame area; especially considering one of the statues displayed in it is chained Promathia, the final boss for the expansion that was released after it ("Chains of Promathia") - and from the look of the new trailer Altana (the other statue, and primary divinity in the setting) might make an appearance "in person" by the last story's end.
It's not the end of the game, and there have been mentions of at least one quest to be added at a later update, but it feels like the end of an era - I've been playing it since 2007, with a few breaks, so I can only imagine how it feels to players who picked the game up much earlier in its lifespan (when it was even more unforgiving, something XIV's early troubles helped to solve).
...!!
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| Maou 2972th Post
PSN: zonepharaoh
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Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(3):Not divisible" , posted Thu 12 Nov 02:06:
quote:
not a platformer but an Action-RPG similar to Valkyrie Profile with a bigger focus on exploration and more complex battle mechanics. Based on recent trends in the crowdfunding community, I think a regular platformer with action elements could have possibly reached a wider audience.
Bah, everyone is an RPG these days. For me, the defining feature was Dracula X Nocturne-style jumping around. Maybe Lab Zero should've played up that angle since Valkyrie barely broke half a million in Japan...16 years ago, and I can't imagine it did even remotely as well in their English-speaking target market.
While I can't answer Ishmael's existential questions, I still think creating a new set of characters, while admirable in terms of artistic integrity, is a pretty bold move. Skullgirls may not be Street Fighter, but that's a healthy crowd of players familiar with your work that could help.
Could the problem be the character design? With Skullgirls the slightly (charmingly, attractively) amateurish look to the design is offset by the sexiness, but Indivisible is stuck with someone who looks like Shantae without the smoothly professional look.
Or could it be that in the vacuum created by Konami's abandonment, Dracula-esque exploratory action games are the most overdone indie projects available? If even Igarashi is doing it, that's a pretty tough rival for your funding.
quote:
We were discussing this with Iggy elsewhere
浮気者！I know your philandering advantaged.net ways. Remarkably, it's still funny even with my ever-rustier French.
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 12 Nov 02:12] |
| Iggy 10042th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P Requiem
| "Re(7):Not divisible" , posted Thu 12 Nov 05:13
quote:
I guess I should've wrote out what I meant when I said "from America" in that I meant that America never got exposed to Segata Sanshiro officially, and the Saturn was not successful in America.
Ah! I didn't understand it that way!
My interpretation was that Gemini's game is the only one released on PS2. And also that we don't talk about Sakura Taisen 5 generally. But mostly it wasn't released on a Sega console so she doesn't know.
quote:
Which character is the principal Dreamcast representative in PxZ2?
In my perfectly unbiased view: since it stars Ulala, best DC character, but also best Sega character and serious contender for best videogame character, I'd say she wins. If you think that's unfair to compare the rest of the nobodies to Ulala and disqualify her for being too awesome, I'd say... Erica? I remember reading people were pissed in the previous game that Sakura Taisen got far more exposure than some other series, including Tales, and from what I can see in 2, the trend keeps on (and I'm perfectly fine with that).
But back on the DC front, I'm surprised they didn't add even a small Segagaga reference somewhere, into Ulala's parade or something. Maybe in PxZ3!
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| Mosquiton 2093th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Clubs and olives" , posted Thu 12 Nov 06:05:
quote:
Maybe I should ask people here whether they remember Battle of Olympus on NES?
I used to be super-into Greek mythology and Zelda II (I'm still rather fond of both really), so naturally I loved this game. However, I only played through once since I borrowed it from a friend. I would be happy to share my recollections from times of antiquity for the modest price of 50 olives (I could really use some ambrosia).
I'll share one anecdote as a token of good will. My told me that he physically flipped over his television screen for the final battle with Hades (for anyone unfamiliar, you duel against an inverted shadow projected onto the ground below you, a very cool fight). My family's television was a little too heavy for that, but I managed to beat the game without flipping my shit, so to speak.
Ah, one more thing. I also remember thinking that it was really cool and befitting of an underdog to begin a game with a wooden club. I mean, I guess it's all Hercules needs, but Orpheus wasn't quite on the same power level. Acquiring new weapons, shields, and relics felt very heroic in this game. Everything felt like a big deal. You get items that halve the damage you take, double your damage dealt... they feel like big steps that propel you toward finishing the game.
Hell, even gathering 20 salamander skins felt like a worthwhile quest back the day. Of course, unlike a typical MMO reward, the salamander shield has a huge immediate impact on your adventure by letting you access a brand new area to continue your quest. Really a thoughtful and lovely game.
Ah, I guess I couldn't resist sharing my thoughts. Forget the olives.
/ / /
[this message was edited by Mosquiton on Thu 12 Nov 06:20] |
| Loona 952th Post
PSN: IkariLoona
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Red Carpet Regular Member++
| "Re(8):Not divisible" , posted Thu 12 Nov 21:20
quote:
I guess I should've wrote out what I meant when I said "from America" in that I meant that America never got exposed to Segata Sanshiro officially, and the Saturn was not successful in America.Ah! I didn't understand it that way!
My interpretation was that Gemini's game is the only one released on PS2.
That makes more sense, if Erica recognizes him but Gemini doesn't.
quote:
Which character is the principal Dreamcast representative in PxZ2? In my perfectly unbiased view: since it stars Ulala, best DC character, but also best Sega character and serious contender for best videogame character, I'd say she wins. If you think that's unfair to compare the rest of the nobodies to Ulala and disqualify her for being too awesome, I'd say... Erica? I remember reading people were pissed in the previous game that Sakura Taisen got far more exposure than some other series, including Tales, and from what I can see in 2, the trend keeps on (and I'm perfectly fine with that).
But back on the DC front, I'm surprised they didn't add even a small Segagaga reference somewhere, into Ulala's parade or something. Maybe in PxZ3!
Well, Ulala does summon Alex Kidd - maybe next game he'll have spoken lines as a barely bitter 30+ year old.
The through of Segagaga references with Segata in the game is too good to pass up, but I guess we'll have to enjoy our small reference miracles one at a time, playable Segata is already a big enough one as it is.
Then again, maybe later in PXZ2 he mentions something about Dogma firing the missile from the final commercial - or at least sneaking in references to the word "dogma" and the number 916 in the same sentence.
...!!
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| nobinobita 1496th Post
Red Carpet Executive Member
| "Re(4):Not divisible" , posted Fri 13 Nov 05:08
quote:
not a platformer but an Action-RPG similar to Valkyrie Profile with a bigger focus on exploration and more complex battle mechanics. Based on recent trends in the crowdfunding community, I think a regular platformer with action elements could have possibly reached a wider audience.
Bah, everyone is an RPG these days. For me, the defining feature was Dracula X Nocturne-style jumping around. Maybe Lab Zero should've played up that angle since Valkyrie barely broke half a million in Japan...16 years ago, and I can't imagine it did even remotely as well in their English-speaking target market.
While I can't answer Ishmael's existential questions, I still think creating a new set of characters, while admirable in terms of artistic integrity, is a pretty bold move. Skullgirls may not be Street Fighter, but that's a healthy crowd of players familiar with your work that could help.
Could the problem be the character design? With Skullgirls the slightly (charmingly, attractively) amateurish look to the design is offset by the sexiness, but Indivisible is stuck with someone who looks like Shantae without the smoothly professional look.
Or could it be that in the vacuum created by Konami's abandonment, Dracula-esque exploratory action games are the most overdone indie projects available? If even Igarashi is doing it, that's a pretty tough rival for your funding.
We were discussing this with Iggy elsewhere浮気者&#
-- Message too long, Autoquote has been Snipped --
I just did a writeup on Indivisible and the real world cultures that inspired it.
http://art-eater.com/2015/11/the-real-life-inspirations-behind-indivisible/
I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but the folks at Lab Zero have worked really hard on it. It's clear they poured their hearts into it so I really hope it gets funded!
www.art-eater.com
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| nobinobita 1499th Post
Red Carpet Executive Member
| "Re(7):Not divisible" , posted Fri 13 Nov 14:16:
quote:
Is the angle that they're playing that Gemini's from America, or that Gemini is too recent, or both?She just, well, never heard of the guy. I wonder why...
The rabbit of Badge Center is my favourite Nintendo character since Hades in the new Kid Icarus. And he's (she's?) almost as evil. And also DIO. And reads Saint Seiya. And a shitty Pokémon trainer. And it's gender fluid. I want to hug it and strangle it at the same time. If it's not at least the shop keeper in Smash Bros NX, heads will roll.
I wonder how much of its insane banter they're going to be able to localize. That thing keeps on talking. On. And on. Every day for the free stage, and almost once a week for the new added stage, and each time with new crazy settings... I should have sent my CV to NOE to work exclusively on it.
Oh my god. Just played Badge Center. It's ingenious. That rabbit is a disgustingly charming salesperson. I genuinely laughed out loud when it explained the concept of "real" money to me. And the way it keeps encouraging you saying "no pressure." How it sometimes says "My boss wanted me to tell you this" (regaurding spending money). It's really really really goddamn well done. We were attempting something like this in the game I'm working on, having a charming shopkeeper isn't anything new to games, but it's curiously absent from mobile. But man, Nintendo just totally blew everyone else out of the water. I agree with Spoon. If they can implement a mobile game with half this charm they'll be just fine.
www.art-eater.com
[this message was edited by nobinobita on Fri 13 Nov 14:17] |
| Loona 955th Post
PSN: IkariLoona
XBL: n/a
Wii: n/a
Red Carpet Regular Member++
| "Re(9):Not divisible" , posted Fri 13 Nov 22:46
quote:
a charming shopkeeper Speaking of, I must admit I had forgotten the existence of Sylfie until I ran into her in PxZ2 yesterday. And... was she always that frightening? Her double-faced shopkeeper banter is absolutely fantastic, in a VERY different way from the badge rabbit.
Or maybe that's the way she was written in NxC and they kept it in the sequels?
In NxC she was already quite the ruthless mercenary with a perpetual warm smile on her face, often trying to pull off stuff like trying to steal KOS-MOS - between that and her combat transformations and references to really old Capcom games in that game, to me she was practically Capcom personified there. But now that Captain Commando is the one summoning old Capcom characters in his attacks, the role seems a bit diluted. At least the emerging SHOP in unlikely places to the sound of Forgotten Worlds music remained, that never gets old.
Speaking of stuff getting old, last night I finished the final major expansion of Final Fantasy XI.
It was one of the few things that brought me tears this past decade (the others being the endings to Revenge of the Sith, Toy Story 3 and Hi Schoool SeHa Girls... what the hell is wrong with me?...).
Maybe it was 8 years of playing it and enjoying its many stories, and seeing them being used together by the end, the music that used an ever-growing choir section sung by players who sent their own samples, the story's theme reflecting the state of the game itself and it's eventual end, along with a character that's pretty much the living/digital legacy of the gam and its players (whom as such seems to be transitioning to FFXIV)... it was just too much, on top of a game so finely crafted in many big and subtle ways (if often merciless to the players in its past, something that FFXIV's early failure helped discourage).
I can't really expect people who didn't experience the game to relate to this much, but it's the first time a game got such a reaction out of me, to the extent that Cloud in Smash didn't feel like that big a deal in comparison. I guess I felt like sharing.
...!!
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| nobinobita 1503th Post
Red Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member
| "Re(8):Not divisible" , posted Tue 17 Nov 18:38
quote:
I'm also late but need to echo Ishmael's thanks for such a great article as usual, Nobi! I'd love to see it get people fired up for the game, which has done impressively well fundraising given the circumstances.
The only reason I know anything about Zoroastrianism is cos one of my best friends growing up was of Iranian descent and he explained all the Persian influences on FFV and VI to me.
More likely it's just the product of people who have a healthy interest in cultures from all over. Creative people usually are curious about the rest of the world.
Nothing helps you remember/fear/hate the evil spirit Ahriman like having him be a huge jerk who turns you to stone while casting death spells! It would be interesting to know if Nasir Gebelli gave inspiration. Like the other Ultima- and Wizardry-influenced RPG creators in Japan, Square must have taken inspiration from the D&D source material's references to mythology and religion, though theirs seems to have expanded far beyond the European orientation I associate with D&D (as a non-player, admittedly).
Haha thanks Maou! Yes! Ahriman is a great example!
Fun fact: many D&D monsters were based off of Hong Kong knock offs of Japanese Kaiju. Here is Tim Kask (one of the first testers on D&D) talking about the creation of some now iconic monsters:
“There once was an unknown company in Hong Kong that made a bag of weird animal-things that were then sold in what once were called dime stores or variety stores for like $.99. I know of four other very early monsters based on them. Gary and I talked about how hard it was to find monster figures, and how one day he came upon this bag of weird beasts…He nearly ran home, eager as a kid to get home and open his baseball cards. Then he proceeded to invent the carrion crawler, umber hulk, rust monster and purple worm, all based on those silly plastic figures. The one that I chose was known in the Greyhawk campaign as “the bullet” (for it’s shape) but had only amorphous stats and abilities, not being developed. Gary told me to take it home, study it, and decide what it was and what it could do.”
source:
http://diterlizzi.com/home/owlbears-rust-monsters-and-bulettes-oh-my/
My bro Andy is the one who told me about this. He's been meaning to actually catalogue which specific Ultraman monsters inspired which early D&D monsters. I think that will make a fantastic article.
I love this kind of cultural exchange. It's so fascinating. Conventional wisdom states that RPGs were the sole invention of Americans, then exported overseas. But reality is so much more layered than that! Inspiration can come from anywhere.
www.art-eater.com
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| Iggy 10049th Post
Star Platinum Carpet- S.P.W. Board Master
| "Re(9):Not divisible" , posted Wed 18 Nov 09:55
This discussion reminds me of a particular moment in Dark Souls (first one, an aesthetic masterpiece amongst its many qualities) were, after having painfully crawled through Gothic European places in varying degree of decay, (then through a horrifying sewer, and then the even more horrifying sewer's sewer, and then a giant spider nest, host of the best moe character of the series), you arrive deep enough to be surrounded by lava. Since it's still less dangerous than the aforementioned sewer, you keep on until you notice some strange ruins on the verge of collapsing in the lava... And I always thought those ruins looked Cambodian, like a strange Angkor Vat full of doomed pyromancers and unspeakable horrors from beyound space.
In any case, the architecture here is strikingly different from anywhere else (if you actually pause to examine it), and it contributes to make the exploration an experience utterly different from anywhere else in the game.
The different architecture also fits perfectly with the scenario of the place and the people you help here (and the burning temple is also entangled in millenium-old roots, a key visual used by the game to underline decay and corruption, which reinforces here the feeling of a temple lost in south-asia jungle)(with lava)(and dinosaur butts).
Dark Souls 1 is an amazing, amazing game.
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| nobinobita 1506th Post
Red Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member
| "Re(8):Not divisible" , posted Wed 18 Nov 12:52:
quote:
That's a nice D&D anecdote.
Vagrant Story had a very South Asian look to the architecture in parts too.
While it's true there are inspirations from those regions, it always felt to me that Vagrant Story was rather taking inspiration from "orientalism" (i.e. the European colonialist inspiration and integration of Eastern cultures into their art and folklore) rather than Eastern cultures themselves. I strongly recommend Edward Said's book on the topic; it's an essential read for the critical understanding of orientalism and the perverse impact of the European colonization on popular culture and myths associated with Eastern cultures.
In terms of architecture, Leamonde was based on Bordeaux and Lyon in France. They even travelled there for research.
So how is Indivisible doing post-extension? Is it on its way to 1.5M after all? It's an interesting case study considering I don't think we have many examples of crowdfunding extensions yet.
Thanks for your thoughtful response. Vagrant Story is clearly very French influenced to. And i think it's great that they actually visited those locations to inform the art direction on the game. I'm pretty sure the references to South East Asian culture were also informed by real experience and not distant orientalism.
The connections to Balinese culture were confirmed for me by an Indonesian friend of mine who is intimately familiar with Bali. I grew up in Thailand which shares a lot of cultural heritage with Balinese and Indonesian culture so it's an aesthetic I'm familiar with too. From my experience people in Asia generally really like how Japanese games reference their cultures. The touches in Vagrant Story and other Squaresoft games are very authentic and considerate.
For instance the Balinese chanting isn't there for a cheap, lazy "othering" effect, that's actually the sound that's used to announce the arrival of a celestial being in the play its from. I think most people who played the game probably just thought it was a really cool digitally altered voice sample.
This is a far cry from say, Jade Empire where they hired a supposed language expert (who of course wasn't actually Chinese) to come up with a made up language that sounds like cat scratch and ching chong sounds. Like, they meant well, but it's just so embarassingly off base.
Or when highly respected comics writer Grant Morisson was tasked to come up with a Chinese Super hero team he created, "Mother of Champions" who can " birth a litter of twenty-five genetically identical supersoldiers about every three days." Like, seriously, WTF??
(by the way the other heroes in that group are almost just as LOLsey)
I only bring those up cos they're actually somewhat lauded in the US, but to me they're hilariously alienating. Whereas there are decades worth of video games that reference a variety of cultures with more grace and authenticity, but they go less noticed because they're not so garish about it.
www.art-eater.com
[this message was edited by nobinobita on Wed 18 Nov 13:01] |
| nobinobita 1507th Post
Red Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member
| "Re(10):Not divisible" , posted Wed 18 Nov 12:58:
quote:
This discussion reminds me of a particular moment in Dark Souls (first one, an aesthetic masterpiece amongst its many qualities) were, after having painfully crawled through Gothic European places in varying degree of decay, (then through a horrifying sewer, and then the even more horrifying sewer's sewer, and then a giant spider nest, host of the best moe character of the series), you arrive deep enough to be surrounded by lava. Since it's still less dangerous than the aforementioned sewer, you keep on until you notice some strange ruins on the verge of collapsing in the lava... And I always thought those ruins looked Cambodian, like a strange Angkor Vat full of doomed pyromancers and unspeakable horrors from beyound space.
In any case, the architecture here is strikingly different from anywhere else (if you actually pause to examine it), and it contributes to make the exploration an experience utterly different from anywhere else in the game.
The different architecture also fits perfectly with the scenario of the place and the people you help here (and the burning temple is also entangled in millenium-old roots, a key visual used by the game to underline decay and corruption, which reinforces here the feeling of a temple lost in south-asia jungle)(with lava)(and dinosaur butts).
Dark Souls 1 is an amazing, amazing game.
YEAH THAT PART WAS SO GOOD! The use of dinosaur butts ... ah, it was like a master chef throwing in a seemingly random novelty ingredient that actually elevates the dish even further!
That team is sooooooo good at storytelling through gameplay and level design (instead of dialog and cutscenes)
The combination of dinos and Ancient Cambodian architecture might be a nod to the "Dinosaur of Ta Prohm," an ancient carving that looks a lot like a stegatsauras at first glance.
http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/dinosaur-angkor-wat
^this must be a really popular attraction for creationists!
www.art-eater.com
[this message was edited by nobinobita on Wed 18 Nov 14:36] |
| Spoon 3149th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Ocarina of Time hits hard" , posted Sun 22 Nov 16:04
Playing OoT on the n3DS, the return to Kokiri Village after Link becomes big is brutal. Nobody recognizes you (though some say you seem familiar), some of them blame you for the destruction of the Deku Tree, and most of them wonder how a "grown up" could enter the village. You aren't allowed to buy a deku shield because "it's for kids". The slingshot and boomerang which were your staples you can't use anymore because "you're grown up".
When you give Saria a call, she somehow says that she was expecting to hear from you, even though it's literally been years and the town went to hell and she was the only person who believed that you weren't the cause of it all.
The lively Market is now filled with the creepiest thing you've encountered so far in the game, the ReDead. All of the shops and the lively people are gone, and the back alleys which once seemed shady as a kid aren't nearly as shady as the way things are even in the Market square. Just stepping out of the Temple of Time is a huge shock, even though you've been told in words that things have gotten bad after Ganondorf took over.
And then when you reach the Forest Temple, Sheik tells you that the flow of time is cruel, but that a thing that doesn't change with time is a memory of younger days!
Just like nobi's experience with the Mother games and how they seem to take on a very different feel depending on your life experience, OoT sure has that. I'm actually surprised that I found it's pace at the outset almost a touch slow (spoiled by the fast travel, free camera, and high movement speed of, say, MGSV...), which is the opposite of how I remember the experience of the other old Zelda games. Yet somehow, the emotional notes of the game manage to not feel maudlin over a decade later.
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| Loona 961th Post
PSN: IkariLoona
XBL: n/a
Wii: n/a
Red Carpet Regular Member++
| "Re(4):Indivisible funded!" , posted Thu 3 Dec 17:47
quote:
So glad they got funded! It's been really fascinating following the campaign. They've been super open about exactly where all the money is going. It's been very educational!
Also I added some more character breakdowns to that Indivisible article. Every time I think I'm done they ... they keep adding more characters TT____TT lol
http://art-eater.com/2015/11/the-real-life-inspirations-behind-indivisible/
I hadn't realized you've been updating the article - I noticed you tweeting about it multiple times, but since opening the link every times showed the same beginning I assumed no changes there. Maybe have some anchor links to character-specific section at the top to make it simpler to figure out what's new?
I expected no Portuguese references in Indivisible (I'm used to some international invisibility outside historical references), so seeing Vasco as a possible one is both interesting and strange - the cowboy look overrides everything the name implies when I look at it, but at least it's something.
Alas, the tier to design an incarnation is way beyond my budget, but it would be neat to see the one Portuguese martial art, Jogo do Pau, referenced there, since Indivisible seems to lack a staff user, and maybe a careto look for visual flair, even if that's specific to a small town's traditions. Backing it anyway.
...!!
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| nobinobita 1516th Post
Red Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member
| "Re(1):Ocarina of Time hits hard" , posted Sat 5 Dec 00:51
quote:
Playing OoT on the n3DS, the return to Kokiri Village after Link becomes big is brutal. Nobody recognizes you (though some say you seem familiar), some of them blame you for the destruction of the Deku Tree, and most of them wonder how a "grown up" could enter the village. You aren't allowed to buy a deku shield because "it's for kids". The slingshot and boomerang which were your staples you can't use anymore because "you're grown up".
When you give Saria a call, she somehow says that she was expecting to hear from you, even though it's literally been years and the town went to hell and she was the only person who believed that you weren't the cause of it all.
The lively Market is now filled with the creepiest thing you've encountered so far in the game, the ReDead. All of the shops and the lively people are gone, and the back alleys which once seemed shady as a kid aren't nearly as shady as the way things are even in the Market square. Just stepping out of the Temple of Time is a huge shock, even though you've been told in words that things have gotten bad after Ganondorf took over.
And then when you reach the Forest Temple, Sheik tells you that the flow of time is cruel, but that a thing that doesn't change with time is a memory of younger days!
Just like nobi's experience with the Mother games and how they seem to take on a very different feel depending on your life experience, OoT sure has that. I'm actually surprised that I found it's pace at the outset al
-- Message too long, Autoquote has been Snipped --
I've never actually really played the N64 Zeldas. I watched my cousin play a bit, but never owned an N64 myself. Thanks for that writeup though. That sounds amazing. That's the kind of storytelling that I think games can be especially great at. Your anecdote has made me want to play OoT more than any Game of the Year/Century/AllTime awards that it's been given.
www.art-eater.com
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| Iggy 10065th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P Requiem
| "Re(2):Darius" , posted Tue 8 Dec 02:18
quote:
I remember hearing about its impending release elsewhere, and the one overwhelming sentiment was "an oldschool STG in 2015... for $60?!?!!"
I've been playing on PC, and let me tell you, if you're an old fart that likes this kind of games, it is absolutely worth the price.
I always preferred Darius to everything else (mostly because of the different types of tracking projectiles some bosses could launch at the same time, making a game much more dynamic than the nonsense hurtbox pixel chore of the danmaku formula), and I think it's an amazing game, and also the first schmup created as a consumer experience and not a simple arcade port.
.
The game has a 2 screen mode (possible to force on 1 screen if you're poor and don't mind playing on 40% of your available surface) along with the regular 16:9, several game modes that will take weeks to finish, great bosses, interesting systems (the burst can be used as a defensive laser as well as a big offense), great bosses variations, old ships with their weapons... The only thing missing would be a boss training mode like G-Darius PS1 had.
I play the game 1 hour at a time in order not to get sick of it too fast. I like it more than G-Darius, which I love more than any other shooter out there.
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| Mosquiton 2102th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "consumer/home experience" , posted Tue 8 Dec 05:51
quote:
But, from a design/contents perspective, it's certainly not the only shooting game designed with a consumer/home experience in mind. The Dreamcast version of Mars/Matrix had a fantastic unlocking/shop system tailored for a home version (probably the best implementation I've seen of an arcade experience transformed into a consumer product until Dragon's Crown's farming and levels came around).
I have been telling people this for years (and encouraging indies to play Mars Matrix and adopt a similar unlock system for their shmups).
If a game simply rewards you with infinite credits, you can clear the game through brute force. It's like skimming through a novel without actually reading all the words, never stopping to think about the deeper meaning.
I feel like nowadays the default answer to the question "How do we create a satisfying sense of progress and encourage mastery of game mechanics in a primarily skill-driven game" is simply "add leveling and loot," or more specifically, "make it a Metroidvania".
Not that these aren't valid approaches, but simply adding stats and an interconnected world isn't going to guarantee you end up with a sublime experience on par with Dark Souls (even Dragon's Crown felt too unpleasantly grindy for me; I beat the dragon once but didn't get to see the "true" ending).
If there's one game I'd have liked to see think more about this problem, it's Shinji Mikami's Vanquish. Surely there was some way to better encourage people who played the game to recognize the brilliance of the actual gameplay. Instead, the shitty story (co-starring evil Hillary Clinton) and a frankly broken power-up system is the only thing that strings the experience together. Instead it's a "bring your own motivation" situation that leaves most people saying "That game was kind of neat, I guess, but it was only like three hours long!"
/ / /
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| Iggy 10067th Post
Star Platinum Carpet- S.P.W. Board Master
| "Re(4):Darius" , posted Wed 9 Dec 03:05
quote:
But, from a design/contents perspective, it's certainly not the only shooting game designed with a consumer/home experience in mind. The Dreamcast version of Mars/Matrix had a fantastic unlocking/shop system tailored for a home version (probably the best implementation I've seen of an arcade experience transformed into a consumer product until Dragon's Crown's farming and levels came around). The home version of Radiant Silvergun had a clever leveling idea as well, and the Shikigami no Shiro series is basically a visual novel with bullets.
Yeah, sorry, I should have explained more. Most shooters are happy with simply offering two ways of enjoying them: "finish the game" and then" finish the game with the highest score possible". Cave games also have "the same but with different enemy placement". All that is fine, but I feel it's selling itself short in most cases.
I would discard Shikigami no Shiro, since the VN part (I assume you mean the VN spinof, since the main games just have dialogues added) is just a different type of game/entertainment mixed with the shooter. Instead of shooting bullets between sequences, you could have done combos or played mahjong without much consequence.
I don't really remember much of Mars/Matrix to be honest. You earned moneys that you could use to buy / unlock stuff like stage select, power-ups, lifes, art gallery and the like, right? So it was just grinding to get stuff that would be unlocked from the start in other games, effectively forcing you to earn it instead of giving it all for free? I wouldn't call grinding more than a trick to force to play the game longer.
The modes of Darius rearrange the game in short sequences (it is, after all, a PSP game originally) with arbitrary requirements (specific ships, specific power-ups), which unlock more sequences, and so on. [Ah, yeah: so, it's not a pretty game by 2015 standards, because it's a PSP game at higher resolution. I can see it being a deterrent to some contemporary/young people]
That was ported and widely expanded in the arcade version, with up to 3000 sequences to unlock, and the progression was saved on the machine (so all the players were cooperating to unlock everything). The subsequent PC port has that cooperative unlock via online (you chose which virtual arcade machine you're playing at), and the offline mode has a specific chronicle mode to play alone.
What I was referring to with my previous comment is that the mode allows you to play the game under specific conditions, in short bursts to make it more palatable and varied (for example, a sequence will be world 2, boss 4, world 3, another sequence would be boss 1 in easy, boss 5, boss 3 in hard...) and the only gratification you get for playing the game is more game to play. Obviously, someone lukewarm about the game is going to be fed up pretty quickly; on the other hand, it gives more ways of enjoying the game without getting bored to the players who like it to begin with.
In other words, the VN fo Shikigami no Shiro makes you forget about the shooting, it doesn't detract from it but it doesn't add anything either, both angles are oblivious to each other. Darius Burst is confident enough with itself to think it doesn't need more than what it is to be interesting, it just need a different package.
I think allowing players more ways to enjoy the same game is paramount for consumer versions of arcade games. Darius has always been high on replayability even in the arcades, by offering more stages arranged in a short branching path (so offering a shorter experience, but an experience varied enough to have you coming back). Games build for consoles from the ground up, but with an arcade game framework, have the same issue: for example, Guardian Heroes takes the Final Fight basis, but with level up, branching path, character unlocks in the arena, etc. Dragon's Crown also has level ups, and adds Diablo-like drops and a randomized endless dungeon. On the other hand, Final Fight 2 or Street of Rage merely had "the arcade experience" without many ways to enjoy them once you've beaten them.
I think fighting games suffer from the same issue, incidentally. Fortunately, fighting games have versus modes, and then online, which allow for a specific kind of replayability (endless as long as players at your level remain available). Single player modes remain a headache, as Capcom knows too well.
Blazblue and Mortal Kombat decided to go with a rich scenario mode that would keep the player busy not playing the game for a couple of hours (that's the Shikigami way). Some old games had totally different games slapped on, like the shooter in Tatsunoko vs Capcom, the Hanafuda in Last Blade 2 or the weird Tetris in KOF 2001. Again, no real point in having that in a fighting game.
Capcom's recent games merely have a combo practice mode, which is unfortunately a very artificial mode that feels detached from the main mode (it reduces fighting game to one specific aspect, which most of the time doesn't even teach things that are applicable in-game). GGXrd at least mixed that with a vast tutorial mode, uninteresting but highly informative.
The reason why people remember SFZero3's world tour mode so fondly is because it's almost similar to the Darius Burst mode: it's a mode where you only play the game with minor rule changes (and it is a good and enjoyable game so playing it is fun), but arranged in a new way, for the length of time that suits you. Your character levels up (and you also can unlock stuff or level up in the chronicle mode of Darius Burst now I think of it) but the main hook is that the game remains the same, and if you enjoy it, that is a good thing.
I spent far too long explaining a thing that is very simple and probably dumb, so I think I'll stop here.
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| Mosquiton 2107th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(5):Darius" , posted Wed 9 Dec 07:39:
quote:
I spent far too long explaining a thing that is very simple and probably dumb, so I think I'll stop here.
Well, I'm glad you explained it because I am now more interested in the new Darius. This system sounds really appealing.
Chaz will still have to answer for riling you up like this, but I'll offer my brief take on why Mars Matrix's basic unlock system works so well. The shop system is pretty basic, but as soon as you realize it's there you have a path toward getting better at and eventually mastering the game.
IIRC, you start off with only a few lives and no continues, so at first you simply try to get as far as you can under these limits. Even a novice player can probably beat stage 1, but the difficult curve gradually increases from then on.
Using the currency you earn from your high score, you can buy extra continues and more lives to use with each continue. This lets you get farther, score higher, and earn even more currency, which in turn gives you more lives and more continues, continually bringing you closer to clearing the game for the first time.
As you play to earn more currency, you can't help but build up your skill. Because you want a higher score, you're encouraged to exploit the scoring system of just playing to survive. As it happens, the most skillful and coolest way to play is also the most profitable. You'll score highest when you make each life last as long as you can. Ideally, you'll make a perfect run through each stage, skillfully piloting your ship to chain the gold cubes dropped by every enemy in order to level up your firepower and kill the boss with as much time left on the clock as possible to ensure a massive bonus (which feels great, btw).
Encouraged by your steady progress, you'll eventually find yourself possessing the right combination of skill and in-game resources (lives and continues) to finish the game. Even if the final stage costs you dearly, chewing through your lives and credits, you can bask in the glory that even if you haven't mastered the game yet, you've actually earned the victory.
If you still want to get better at the game, you can continue honing your skills to focus on unlocking the various high-priced extras for the sake of pride and completion.
The shop system is is really just one more layer on top of an extremely well-thought-out game system, and the unlocks should probably be automatic and in a set order, but it does work really well. So many games don't reward you in such a way that you're encouraged to play the game the way they intended. (See every Platinum game ever.) Maybe I'll ramble about that topic again some other time.
/ / /
[this message was edited by Mosquiton on Wed 9 Dec 08:26] |
| jUAN 4591th Post
PSN: Buttermonster
XBL: Prepaidpenguin
Wii: WiiU:Buttermonster
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(3): Les Xenochiens Terribles X" , posted Tue 15 Dec 01:15
quote:
Elma is the least dumb character of the whole game, but she's still pretty dumb. I allow her to be in the next Smash or PxZ or #Ibunroku or Paper Mario or whatever.
Walking and jumping and exploring and running and dying in the wilderness was fantastic. Everything else was awful. But the wilderness really was amazing.
There's too many characters in the damn game and all of them are retarded, but you need to pretend you're their friends if you want to complete the map, so I never used the pawn thing. Is it any useful at any point?
After playing a bit more, the main purpose of summoning other players is to get tickets and medals that you can trade for materials. The owner of the pawn gets similar rewards i think.
So for example, you have a quest or schematic that requires ten (ultra rare!) alien bear butts. Instead of spending hours cutting bear butts, you could go to the computer and buy the butts with tickets.
It is useful, but kind of lame. Nothing beats taking someone's pawn in Dragon's Dogma and sending them back with high level gear, a ton of random goodies, and a thousand yard stare from dark arisen's wild ride.
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| Mosquiton 2108th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(5): Les Xenochiens Terribles X" , posted Tue 15 Dec 05:14:
quote:
It is useful, but kind of lame. Nothing beats taking someone's pawn in Dragon's Dogma and sending them back with high level gear, a ton of random goodies, and a thousand yard stare from dark arisen's wild ride.
Every single game should copy DD's pawn system. It's ingenious and fits into the modern lifestyle of having your friends spread out across the country/world. The pawns are such GREAT proxies for them!
Also re: Xenoblade. Just as I was lamenting how unbearable the characters and dialog are, they introduce the concept of the "mims." That was pretty neat and unexpected!
I also think the Pawn system is a great idea that should be studied and emulated. Sadly I feel like the inclination system, which can naturally lead to weird/undesirable behaviors which spread to other pawns online by association (i.e., the somewhat flawed Guardian disposition), and the tendency of pawns to speak too frequently are two big issues that tarnished the reputation of an otherwise extremely well-designed system.
This lead to a lot of people carelessly slinging around ideas like "Pawns are dumb and talk too much." This, along with DD's difficulty achieving real mainstream appeal, I feel like it's kept other (especially Western) designers from examining it and learning lessons like many did with the Souls series.
The whole BBS RPG concept is pretty great. Still really hopping for a proper Dragon's Dogma sequel someday.
/ / /
[this message was edited by Mosquiton on Tue 15 Dec 05:17] |
| nobinobita 1530th Post
Red Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member
| "Re(9): Les Enfants Terribles 4" , posted Wed 16 Dec 17:40
quote:
If you scroll down he has a nice message about the importance of play in culture. He is channeling ideas from the classic book "Homo Ludens" which talks about the importance of "play" and how it predates civilization and the concept of cultures.
In typical Kojima fashion, he's also gone and quoted the phrase Homo faber. Putting the two together is a nice way to look at making good games, as it's a lot of hard work to create a high-quality item of play. It's been a long time since I've looked at Homo ludens, though, so I wonder if "channeling" is a bit of a charitable appraisal of what he's said. He's probably gone and yoinked phrases verbatim from it haha
Well said Spoon! Haha I haven't read either book, but I know Homo Ludens is very influential on all those game design books out there now. Do you recommend it? (or any other game design books?)
quote:
I wonder if the notes about inexperienced applicants for some of the positions are just there to be polite, or if they really mean it. I do think that Kojima knows the value of taking on talent that hasn't had a lot of industry experience, though.
I know a lot of people who will be applying just for the hell of it. Not expecting to get in, but man, you just gotta go for it sometimes.
I imagine if they find someone with prodigious talent and no experience, they'll probably hire them.
It's pretty awesome that Kojima's life is mirroring that of Big Boss.
It would be really funny if he just made a Metal Gear clone that functions as the actual intended (never completed) final act of Phantom Pain. He could even get David Hayter to play the main character!
www.art-eater.com
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| Iggy 10081th Post
Star Platinum Carpet- S.P.W. Board Master
| "Re(4):Sengoku Basara Yukimura Edition" , posted Sat 19 Dec 00:02
quote:
Yukimura is still in the Basara series? As much as that guy has been sidelined in the past few entries I didn't expect for him to receive a starring role. This is an interesting approach for a new game but how are they going to make a full game out of one character scenario?
You're thinking of Keiji, a.k.a. "who?", a.k.a. "yeah, remember, he was the hero of the second game!", a.k.a. "no, really, who?".
Yukimura has suffered from Masamune's ever-expending harem of husbandos, but he's still there among the main popular characters.
I am not trying to explain why he is, I'll just say that, well, he is popular.
Yukimura is also a good choice to focus a game on, as he is, until now, a fusion of 3 generations of Sanada. If the game introduces the family members with whom he had been fusionned, it would be a way to "clean up" the character and give him a more focused role. But that would also mean Basara wants to clean up its world and characters, which might not be a bad idea, but isn't without risks.
Between that, the failure of Basara 4 and the new TV series next year, it's an interesting idea to try to salvage the franchise. We'll see how it will develop.
I have absolutely no idea about why the game is not on Vita, though.
quote:
You can lead a full, productive life without ever bothering with either of those games. From the weightless, poorly animated characters to combos that could juggle you to the top of the screen, these games are examples of every bad habit ArcSys has without any of the redeeming features.
Sengoku Basara X is one of the most hilariously bad fighting games made in the 2000s, and has developed a small but dedicated community (amongst the Hokuto no Ken/Post-apocalyptic Basketball players) who play the game ironically. Not so surprisingly, these skills to play bullshit broken games translated well into MvC3.
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| Spoon 3182th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
| "Re(4): The Time of Retribution Edition" , posted Sat 19 Dec 15:45:
quote:
You can lead a full, productive life without ever bothering with either of those games. From the weightless, poorly animated characters to combos that could juggle you to the top of the screen, these games are examples of every bad habit ArcSys has without any of the redeeming features. As far as I can tell the games only exist so this match could take place.
Basara X is quite skippable, but the HnK fighting game is like the very best budget licensed game. That sounds like faint praise, but it's true!
So you'll see obvious cheapness like the stiff animation, reused animation (Kenshiro's forward and backward walks, for instance, are identical), lack of animation, questionable game balance, and a small playable cast.
NONE OF THAT MATTERS.
The backgrounds are awesome. The music is awesome. The fight intro graphics are some of the best ever. The Seven Star Fatal KO system and the Boost system and Banishing Strike are AWESOME.
You might ask "what is so awesome about Boost"?
Boost is YRC INVERTED. Boost is that weird automatic turbospeed forward movement of Custom Combo in SFA2. What do I mean when I say Boost is YRC inverted? YRC in Xrd is about slowing down the action and the opponent to give you more to read the situation and your character more time to close the distance or land an attack. Boost is about speeding up the action (it kills hitstop frames, it zooms you forward, and it can cancel your current animation whether or not it hit anything) so that your attack becomes harder to read/react to and speeding yourself up so that you can catch up to your opponent.
HnK is the game where manually dribbling your opponent for 100+ punches happens as a matter of course. HnK is a game where Mamiya can summon a motorcycle and skip across the water from the dam Amiba's underling just blew. HnK is the game where projectile supers have a hitbox that extends ABOVE AND BEHIND the characters. HnK is the game where instant kill attacks can be comboed into, and where instant kill attacks can clash with each other. HnK is a game that seems mediocre until you discover it is stupid and broken, and then it is so broken that it goes all the way around back to being almost balanced and super awesome.
HnK, in a moment of total understanding of the source material and how dream matches work, introduces each round with the words "DECIDE THE DESTINY". If Maou goes nuts about sparsely written copy, this is me going nuts about something similar. See, a pervasive theme that everybody in HnK harps on is about destiny: the destiny of those born under the various stars, the destiny of violence, the destiny of conflict, the destiny of everything. They can't escape their destiny. But many of them heroically fulfill these destinies on terms that they can be at peace with, though they struggle mightily till the last moment. "DECIDE THE DESTINY" implores you to take control of the events that will proceed, and how they will go against the destiny that was written for these characters. DECIDE THE DESTINY has a pleasant alliteration that rolls off your tongue. DECIDE THE DESTINY is where Jagi will finally defeat Kenshiro and be acknowledged as one of the Hokuto brothers.
Speaking of Jagi, in the PS2 console port of the game, there's this silly single player mode where you are pitted against the CPU and have tasks to recreate moments from the show. In the Kenshiro vs. Jagi challenge, almost every single thing you can do to each other fulfills a challenge. It's hilarious.
Now, quite frankly, Raoh does a somewhat poor job of representing himself. He occasionally flurries a guy to death, like he did when he fought Fuudo the Mountain. But in this game, he's not about enormous singular strikes and gaining figurative size proportional with how hard he's crushing somebody. Instead, he winds up jabbing his opponent in the crotch like 100+ times. However, at least the people making the game were clever enough to not give Raoh a backdash. You might wonder why that is at all significant. The reason is again, Fuudo the Mountain: Raoh claims that he does not step back from his opponent, but Fuudo the Mountain was the first one to make him fearful enough to take a single step backwards. Raoh in this HnK game does no backdash, and instead just dodges by tilting his torso. That's 100% appropriate to Raoh. Toki, on the other hand, flows around his opponent in a near unstoppable, seemingly endless flow. Toki is as powerful as he was always hinted at being in HnK.
And while the Kenshiro vs. Rei match is legendary, one of my most favourite moments, and one which never ceases to delight me, is this one. The trick executed was sublime.
MARVELOUS DEADLY FIST BLOW KO
[this message was edited by Spoon on Sat 19 Dec 15:46] |
| nobinobita 1535th Post
Red Carpet V.I.P- Platinum Member
| "Re(5): The Time of Retribution Edition" , posted Thu 24 Dec 14:12
quote:
You can lead a full, productive life without ever bothering with either of those games. From the weightless, poorly animated characters to combos that could juggle you to the top of the screen, these games are examples of every bad habit ArcSys has without any of the redeeming features. As far as I can tell the games only exist so this match could take place.
Basara X is quite skippable, but the HnK fighting game is like the very best budget licensed game. That sounds like faint praise, but it's true!
So you'll see obvious cheapness like the stiff animation, reused animation (Kenshiro's forward and backward walks, for instance, are identical), lack of animation, questionable game balance, and a small playable cast.
NONE OF THAT MATTERS.
The backgrounds are awesome. The music is awesome. The fight intro graphics are some of the best ever. The Seven Star Fatal KO system and the Boost system and Banishing Strike are AWESOME.
You might ask "what is so awesome about Boost"?
Boost is YRC INVERTED. Boost is that weird automatic turbospeed forward movement of Custom Combo in SFA2. What do I mean when I say Boost is YRC inverted? YRC in Xrd is about slowing down the action and the opponent to give you more to read the situation and your character more time to close the distance or land an attack. Boost is about speeding up the action (it kills hitstop frames, it zooms you forward, and it can cancel your cur
-- Message too long, Autoquote has been Snipped --
Thank you so much for that perfect summary of the appeal of HnK. The Fighting Game club that I belonged to in college played it quite a bit. I never actually got good at the game, but man was it fun!
www.art-eater.com
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| Iggy 10108th Post
Star Platinum Carpet- S.P.W. Board Master
| "Taito's shooting history in Darius" , posted Wed 13 Jan 06:28:
The first DLC for Darius Burst has been announced, and it is turning the game into Smash Schmup.
http://darius.jp/dbcs/
The Japanese page talks of "the first batch of DLC". Comment from the publisher in the west:
quote:
we'll be releasing new content packs based on the classic Taito games/series RayForce, Metal Black, and Night Striker. Each pack contains a new ship, new levels, and new music from those games in a kind of mini-DLC campaign. The DLC campaigns play similarly to the existing CS Mode in 16:9 aspect ratio, but my understanding is that the DLC ships will be restricted to the DLC campaigns only (however, you are able to play any of the standard ships from CS mode in the new DLC campaigns freely).
We haven't finalized a price for the Taito ship packs just yet, but we're aiming to launch this content some time around late Feb/early March.
This is all nice and all, but I really hope the second DLC will add more Darius things redone. Less Darius Smash, more Darius's own R-Type Final!
The one thing that could be improved in Burst is that the backgrounds are not as flashy as some previous entries, especially 2 and G.
Still not clear whether the arrangements would be from Zuntata. Another possibility would be
quote:
I'm pretty sure they're using the same arranges that are on the CD that comes with the Vita LE, so Michiru Yamane for the Raystorm tracks, Yack for the Metal Black tracks and sanodg for the Night Striker tracks.
[this message was edited by Iggy on Wed 13 Jan 06:31] |
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"Re(2):Toxico-chan" , posted Wed 28 Oct 11:07
Have an upvote.
this specific point
