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| |  "RANDOM GAMES! #33: The Trilogy of Error" , posted Wed 17 Aug 20:47:  
Previous topic:
>>RANDOM GAMES! #32
FINAL FANTASY XV
NIOH
THE LAST GUARDIAN
All three long awaited games, in development for over 10 years, originally scheduled then cancelled on PS3, losing their original director on the way,will be released by the end of this year... Maybe? FF15 was supposed to go first, but you probably heard how well that went. Now it will be released after The Last Guardian. Unless The Last Guardian gets delayed too! And we still don't have a precise date for Nioh, which was supposed to be the last, but might end up coming before FF15, especially if next week's Beta is well received. Or get moved to 2017 because FF15 stole its spot. Who knows. Maybe FF15 won't even make it for November. Anyway. We should be fixed by TGS. I'll miss making fun of these three games once they are out.
It's Gamescom.
Metal Gear Survive Huh!?
52 minutes of FF15 That leak was all truuuuuue
NIOH one week to go!
Harley Quinn in Injustice 2 Suicide Squad Hype! ... Well, maybe not.
Lee in Tekken 7 Wait a minute, why is he pretending to be Violet?
Biohazard 7 by Capcom
Biohazard 7 by Namco
Même Narumi est épatée !
[this message was edited by chazumaru on Wed 17 Aug 20:47] |
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| "Chinatown Fair - The Lost Arcade" , posted Fri 19 Aug 13:53
This one is for Prof. and all others who've lived in or remember New York and its legendary Chinatown Fair arcade. There were about five threads where this could go, but I decided that taxidermy wasn't my strong suit and entrust it to the Gods of Random Thread.
MAOUBLOGGING VOL. 3223: LET'S ALL WATCH "THE LOST ARCADE"
I just saw The Lost Arcade, which chronicles the community and final days of the Chinatown Fair arcade. It benefits from the fact that the directors weren't associated with the scene but followed it like anthropologists because they found it interesting. This resulted in a film that I think anyone can enjoy: colorful characters like "Mahvel Baby" Yipes and the famed Marvel 2 scene are there briefly, and while this would have been a fun focus, instead it's really about the sense of community, respect, and play that brought people together...and it's a better film.
It's centered on two employees, one coming from a shattered family background who found his new family there, and the other who recreated the community in the new Brooklyn Next Level arcade when the OG Chinatown Fair closed, plus the kindly old Pakistani-American man who ran the place. He wasn't a gamer himself but fixed all the machines and created a self-regulating community where kids could meet...so much so that I never noticed him in real life. Pretty interesting.
Happily, the directors were able to extend filming not only when the successor Next Level opened but when Chinatown Fair itself did under new family-focused management. Impressively, the directors give the new Chinatown Fair owner a fair shake: he's a gamer himself from a different generation, and he ended up making a brighter place where a different crowd could create their own new community--more welcoming to girls now and a music game focus. There's room for both. I don't think a (disappointed) person from the OG scene could've shown this, and it improves the film.
There's also some amazing archival footage of early Chinatown Fair and the days of the huge early Times Square arcade scene (!?!) and the music is great.
There was a Q&A and I asked if they'd be sharing it outside the US since it's interesting not only as a nostalgia piece but as a record of a certain community and culture. I think Tokyo's Mikado scene or others would dig it. Even if you get to meet certain top players at Evo or Tougeki, you're probably not likely to have the chance to really see someone's "hometown dojo" like this, whether you're from the old Sunnyvale scene, Tokyo, Europe, or elsewhere. Plus, seems extra fitting with arcade-less SFV and Daigo mentioning his worries about not having an arcade scene to train with. Sounds like they'll send it to Asia at least. Bug them to bring it to your town!
Oh, there is a trailer!
人間はいつも私を驚かせてくれる。不思議なものだな、人間という存在は．．．
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| | "Re(1):Chinatown Fair - The Lost Arcade" , posted Sat 20 Aug 11:13:
quote:
This one is for Prof. and all others who've lived in or remember New York and its legendary Chinatown Fair arcade. There were about five threads where this could go, but I decided that taxidermy wasn't my strong suit and entrust it to the Gods of Random Thread.
MAOUBLOGGING VOL. 3223: LET'S ALL WATCH "THE LOST ARCADE"
I just saw The Lost Arcade, which chronicles the community and final days of the Chinatown Fair arcade. It benefits from the fact that the directors weren't associated with the scene but followed it like anthropologists because they found it interesting. This resulted in a film that I think anyone can enjoy: colorful characters like "Mahvel Baby" Yipes and the famed Marvel 2 scene are there briefly, and while this would have been a fun focus, instead it's really about the sense of community, respect, and play that brought people together...and it's a better film.
-- Message too long, Autoquote has been Snipped --
AH CHINATOWN FAIR! The dumping ground of our youth!!
I have fond memories of the arcade which makes me facepalm the way that I was spending my days, but it was fun times. The chicken in the tic-tac-toe machine near the doorway, the money exchange guy that looked like a Shoko Asahara... ahh it's all coming back to me. Oddly enough I can't recall any locals during my time there who turned pro, so I guess I'm a generation older or something.
I wonder if the film has some footage of the other arcades that were in NY, namely Playland in Times Square and the other location there which I forgot the name (no, not XS), it was right near an athletics gym. Those were just as good arcades although Chinatown fair was the only one to survive the mayor's cleansing of the city. I played the most Neogeo at Playland... I still recall the 3-in-1 bowling game cabinet right next to it which constantly yelled "POWER STRIKE!". It was annoying, and now it's fond memories. It was Bally Midway Tri-Sports.
This film seems nice! I'd love to check it out when it becomes more accessible.
Thanks for sharing!
[this message was edited by Professor on Sat 20 Aug 12:42] |
| | "Re(2):Chinatown Fair - The Lost Arcade" , posted Mon 22 Aug 01:39
quote:
This one is for Prof. and all others who've lived in or remember New York and its legendary Chinatown Fair arcade. There were about five threads where this could go, but I decided that taxidermy wasn't my strong suit and entrust it to the Gods of Random Thread.
MAOUBLOGGING VOL. 3223: LET'S ALL WATCH "THE LOST ARCADE"
I just saw The Lost Arcade, which chronicles the community and final days of the Chinatown Fair arcade. It benefits from the fact that the directors weren't associated with the scene but followed it like anthropologists because they found it interesting. This resulted in a film that I think anyone can enjoy: colorful characters like "Mahvel Baby" Yipes and the famed Marvel 2 scene are there briefly, and while this would have been a fun focus, instead it's really about the sense of community, respect, and play that brought people together...and it's a better film.
-- Message too long, Autoquote has been Snipped --
AH CHINATOWN FAIR! The dumping ground of our youth!!
I have fond memories of the arcade which makes me facepalm the way that I was spending my days, but it was fun times. The chicken in the tic-tac-toe machine near the doorway, the money exchange guy that looked like a Shoko Asahara... ahh it's all coming back to me. Oddly enough I can't recall any locals during my time there who turned pro, so I guess I'm a generation older or
-- Message too long, Autoquote has been Snipped --
I always wanted to play at CTF in the early 00's because all of the poorly compressed .avi's of competitions showed then-amazing level of play, at a level which I surely wasn't at but that I admired.
LMAO at a Shoko Asahara lookalike...
... actually I need to get a shave and a haircut soon or else I might start looking like a skinny version of that.........
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| | "Re(3):Astro Boy: Edge of Time" , posted Fri 26 Aug 14:00
quote:
It's a passion project from owner of Playism (i.e. the owner of the Osaka-based translation company AGM) Ibai Ameztoy. He is heavily influenced by Marvel for this project which I assume is why the artworks seemed strangely influenced towards western comics. Maybe there was a clear direction given to the artists, something like "imagine you were drawing an American comics"? Which in itself would be an interesting approach and exercise, I guess, although I struggle to see the connection with Tezuka or Astro, or how all this would organically result in "let's do a collectible card game".
Thanks for the clarification! That demystifies a lot of the seemingly arbitrary decisions on this project.
It's kind of scary how well Japanese artists can adapt to other styles now, even picking up on what I would consider the flaws of the source. For instance the FFXV mobile game, Justice Monsters Five, looks so much like the exact kind of American super hero comic book art that made me lose interest in Marvel and DC after the 90s.
The art for this Astroboy CCG also has a lot of those traits, like overly saturated colors, shading to black with no hue variation, superfluous rim lighting, coloring with too much rendering that strips attention away from the linework etc. I'm certain these artists could do better, but they are choosing to make the art look worse in the pursuit of authenticity!
www.art-eater.com
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| | "Re(1):Going from Yunnan to Yosemite" , posted Sat 27 Aug 02:38
Here's a fun song from China about office life:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFaQwZyPOZQ
The English subtitles have localized a few location names to convey the point of the suburbs, vacation destination, and the place where all the offices are.
Another user posted a literal translation in the comments, which I've pasted here:
I tried to translate this: （试着翻译成英文，没有完全按照字面翻译）
So far, the sofa is so far. aka My body feels hollowed out
Dusk had fallen over Chaoyang Park
As the retired ones are ready for their square dance.
And through the window I see shadow of trees,
can’t help but wonder if this is the best days of my youth
(When the petals left the flower)
Here’s a boss whose name is David,
He appeared right at 6pm, with eyes of a german shepherd
and a pot of steaming hot coffee at hand, said,
“Hey hey hey what about we have a meeting now”
I said that would be fun, but
I need to go to the airport to pick up my elderly dad (my elderly daddy)
Haven’t seen him for thirty years
He came from that distant Siberia. (hmmm?)
You would have all these done in the morning,
but I saw you playing with live stream instead.
Don’t you have a home to go back to?
Please, I beg you, you don’t say that—
“Dear, have an overtime.” --by Leon Lai
My body feels hollowed out,
exhausted, I’m so dog-tired.
(I’m not tired, not tired)
Eighteen days without removing makeup
Two years and a half without changing monthly contact lenses
I lost control of life routine but gained weight instead
I get up to fight through North 5th Ring Road
while I live at Huilongguan*.
A sofa is my harbor to rest
With an empty stomach,
cakes only in my dream,
tell me how could I relax?
KPI everyday, I’d rather like you to
get your “craftsmanship” out of the window
Now hear me:
I love my job, I really like to work,
My work makes me improve.
I love to study, it makes me happy,
(I really need to pick my dad home, let me go home)
[I don’t care about pay, I’m mainly interested in this job]
[This job makes me feel content]
[This is the group effort of everybody]
[Thank boss for giving me this opportunity]
[The company provides a platform for my strength to shine]
[It’s okay, overtime is no big deal]
[No problem, this is part of my job]
[What boss means is actually really meaningful]
[I will do it now, count on me!]
[Yes Boss!]
[Everyday I wake up to embrace my job!]
[Of course, of course, this is what I should do!]
[I can keep on fixing this as you wish]
[Yes, till you’re satisfied]
[No hurry, I can go home after I finish this]
[I’m really healthy, an all-nighter is not a big deal]
[I don’t have anything to do at home anyway, so I’d rather stay]
[Boss has put more effort than all of us!]
[!krow llits nac I !pu em esiaR]
How do you like this, boss? hahahahahaha!
How do you like this, boss? hahahahahaha!
Now you’re satisfied, hahahahahaha!
(I really need to pick my dad home)
After I quit, boss be in my blacklist!!
Who needs to sleep? What a waste of time
Who wants to eat? PPT is my nutrient
How do you like this, boss? Now you’re satisfied?
hahahahaha…..
My body feels hollowed out, (no more overtime)
exhausted, I’m so dog-tired. (no more overtime)
(I’m not tired, not tired) (no more overtime)
Eighteen days without removing makeup
Two years and a half without changing monthly contact lenses
I lost control of life routine but gained weight instead
oh hey ya oh hey ya oh hey~I’m heading to Yunnan
oh hey ya oh hey ya oh hey~Say bye to Huilongguan (No overtime)
oh hey ya oh hey ya oh hey~bring my dad along
oh hey ya oh hey ya oh hey~Enjoy life like a adventurer on horseback
oh hey ya oh hey ya oh hey~I’m heading to Yunnan
oh hey ya oh hey ya oh hey~Say bye to Huilongguan (No overtime)
oh hey ya oh hey ya oh hey~bring my dad along
oh hey ya oh hey ya oh hey
no overtime!
No Overtime!
NO OVERTIME!
[For those who works overtime, with sympathy]
[Special Thanks to Leon Lai, for providing voice for David the boss]
*Huilongguan is a habitual region 33kms away from the city, where it takes at least an hour to commute to Chaoyang Park, where people work.
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| | "Re(5):RANDOM Yunnan Facts!" , posted Wed 31 Aug 00:25:
quote:
I don't remember if I had posted that game here at the Cafe, but I did see that tweet some months ago. It's an amazing work of art, the two characters made so far are positively insane, and I wish this genius manages to complete the game someday.
That game is a true work of art. I'm not even trying to be funny. It's beautiful TT____TT
With the internet's unwavering obsession with Harambe, that game might actually have a much bigger audience than the author ever expected now.
There's actually been more than one English article about this game!
One here
Another here
And the author has an English download page for the game on nico here!
From the download page:
"even so, since you are so geeky enough to be playing indie games
such as this one right here,
i believe youare also skilled enough to overcome your problems."
I wonder if his manga is anywhere near as interesting as the visuals of this game. The severed head character is one of the most gonzo characters I've ever seen in a fighting game.
Thanks for sharing those links! Glad to see Daromeon is getting an international following! I really hope he eventually completes that game. I'm really tempted to contact him and offer to help with the animations, but I have zero free time!
Also thanks for posting that song! Yunnan is the land of my ancestry! Seems like it's one of the few places in China that most Chinese people unanimously have a pretty positive impression of.
Some fun facts about Yunnan:
-About 1/3 of all known orchid species (530 out of 1600) are found in Yunnan
-Hayao Miyazaki based the look of the Emishi people in Princess Mononoke off of Yunnan cultures (there isn't one, but many) rather than any Japanese cultures
-Reading through his essays, I was really shocked at how much Miyazaki knew about Yunnan. Turns out it's because he subscribes to the “broadleaf evergreen forest culture hypothesis” of ethnobotanist Nakao Sasuke who conjectures that Japanese and other East Asian cultures have common roots in Yunnan. I can confirm that the foods we eat (fluffy rice, fermented soy beans, savory mochi etc) are really really similar.
-China's best animation studio, WolfSmoke are making a super cool looking series of short films set in a fantasy version of Yunnan.
-If you want to see a great Kungfu flick set in Yunnan watch the 2011 Donnie Yen film Wuxia. For me it is a very very authentic representation of Chinese culture and values. A lot of the characters reminded me of people I've known in real life. Absolutely avoid the butchered Miramax release called "Dragon" though. It absolutely excises the life out of the movie. I'm not even kidding. If I sat down and had to choose all my favourite subtle shots that I felt contributed to the Chinese soul of the movie, those are literally all the shots (and a great musical number) they chose to cut out.
-Yunnan has some of the best mushrooms in the world. My favourite is the "ji zhong" which means "chicken mushroom." In english it's sometimes called the "termite mushroom" because it tends to grow in termite mounds. It has an incredibly deep savory umami flavour on par, maybe even better than most meat. It can't be farmed and only grows in the wild. Thankfully it tastes awesome preserved in oil and can be enjoyed year round (and the oil can be used for cooking like truffle oil!)
-Yunnan is also home to some of the finest ham in the world. I've heard from people in the restaurant business that in recent years some of the best Iberico ham is also secretly produced there then shipped overseas.
-Yunnan is also home to rushan, one of the only cheeses in Chinese cuisine.
-How to tie this back into video games? Yunnan culture is super cool, but has never been referenced directly in videogames outside of maybe some Wuxia games. I always thought some of the clothing in Lunar (and many other RPGs) may have been inspired by some of the traditional clothes from Yunnan though.
www.art-eater.com
[this message was edited by nobinobita on Wed 31 Aug 00:30] |
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| "Re(2):15 minutes of Sonic Mania" , posted Mon 5 Sep 05:11
...WOW. Feels so nostalgic, yet so fresh. I see the nth Green Hill rehash may get boring, but there are some tweaks that intrigue me, like...there are way more spikes at the bottom? And what looks like a one-way wall. Nice remix, very conservative but pleasant.
Studiopolis on the other hand is explosive, colorful, loud, without risking to look too loaded. From a gameplay standpoint, I like that ramp gimmick a lot, where you must spindash to fly to the next platform. What about the music? Fantastic. The Stardust Speedway reference is obvious and welcome, but I just can't help but feel a slight Chaotix influence, which is in the graphics of the game as well. It doesn't specifically remind me of any track from Chaotix, but I feel a touch of the general OST atmosphere from that title in the Studiopolis theme. The synth keyboard parts literally give me goosebumps. This theme sets my heart on fire.
Sonic's animation when he's about to fall is so freaking smooth, elastic, and so is the "look above" one. Jaw dropping motions. Last but not least, dancing Eggman is a great touch.
Cutting it short, it's day one purchase for me.
Ore no...kachi da!!
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| | "Re(1):Super Mario Apple" , posted Thu 8 Sep 18:09
quote:
So an unexpected Shigeru Miyamoto just announced at the Apple event of today the new Super Mario Run for iPhone (later too for Android)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgA_qNvm8Mc
Did Apple covered Nintendo with a mountain of gold to have this (timed) exclusive?
They announced also a version of Pokemon Go for iWatch (for how long the battery of the watch can support that thing?)
Mario looks fun! I like how Miyamoto appeared on stage and proposed this revolutionary idea of paying "just once" for a game, and that's it! You get a whole complete, balanced game! CRAZY!
I wonder how this will work out for them. Since it's Mario it's sure to sell several million copies worldwide. It almost certainly won't make the obscene numbers of Clash of Clans or Pokemon Go, but it doesn't have to.
I wonder if it will trickle down into more support for paid games. My gut tells me that unless you're Nintendo or Minecraft, people probably aren't willing to fork over money for your mobile game and freemium will continue to be the way to go.
I recall when Monument Valley came out. A friend of mine was playing it. His coworker asked him "wow what is that? it looks great!" She was really impressed but upon learning it cost $2 she was like "WHAT NO THANK YOU?!" He had to point out that the game was less than a Starbucks coffee and would bring you 6-20 hours of pleasure. Then it finally clicked that maybe it's ok to pay for a game ahead of time, instead of paying to win later.
Anyway, I wish Nintendo the best of luck as they take the real plunge into mobile. I think they'll come up with some game changing, or at least, widely copied stuff, as they do.
www.art-eater.com
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| | "TGS then, TGS now" , posted Fri 9 Sep 11:16:
First, for a bit of retro news, I dug up and translated the announced lineup for the very first Tokyo Game Show, twenty years ago. Ubisoft already had a booth!
For the first time in a while, I actually feel TGS will be less boring than E3 and Gamescom. D3P has a very unique and strong lineup for the local market, whatever one might think of the good/bad taste they evoke. EDF5 will very likely be announced at Sony's conference, High School Zombie Killer seems like the many stupid Simple Series we used to get, and (unfortunately?) Happy Manager is the game that VR was made for in Japan. (All of them can be seen on sites like Gematsu.)
We'll get an improved PS4 with three iconic PS3 development hell failures coming to term (see first post), the return of SaGa (in video form), I am sure Falcom will tease Sen no Kiseki 3, I have very high hopes for this year's Ryū Ga Gotoku trailer (which is always more fun than the actual game comes out to be), we might have Zettai Zetsumei Toshi news, that other Granzella game with Godzilla and Evangelion might be there too, MH Stories seems to be taking the 3DS as far as it can, Megami Meguri seems at the very least an interesting oddity like Japanese publishers used to try out constantly, The Dark Souls IIII DLC wasn't playable at Gamescom yet, CyGames comes back but brought console games this year, Pokémon Go might help motivate people to actually visit the indie corner this time, Cospa has cool Neo Geo gear on sale... There's genuinely a lot of topics to cover!
Même Narumi est épatée !
[this message was edited by chazumaru on Fri 9 Sep 11:53] |
| | "Re(1):TGS then, TGS now" , posted Fri 9 Sep 12:05
quote:
First, for a bit of retro news, I dug up and translated the announced lineup for the very first Tokyo Game Show, twenty years ago.
For the first time in a while, I actually feel TGS will be less boring than E3 and Gamescom. D3P has a very unique and strong lineup for the local market, whatever one might think of the good/bad taste they evoke. EDF5 will very likely be announced at Sony's conference, High School Zombie Killer seems like the many stupid Simple Series we used to get, and (unfortunately?) Happy Manager is the game that VR was made for in Japan. (All of them can be seen on sites like Gematsu.)
We'll get an improved PS4 with three iconic PS3 development hell failures coming to term (see first post), the return of SaGa (in video form), I am sure Falcom will tease Sen no Kiseki 3, I have very high hopes for this year's Ryū Ga Gotoku trailer (which is always more fun than the actual game comes out to be), we might have Zettai Zetsumei Toshi news, that other Granzella game with Godzilla and Evangelion might be there too, MH Stories seems to be taking the 3DS as far as it can, Megami Megumi seems at the very least an interesting oddity like Japanese publishers used to try out constantly, The Dark Souls IIII DLC wasn't playable at Gamescom yet, CyGames comes back but brought console games this year, Pokémon Go might help motivate pe
-- Message too long, Autoquote has been Snipped --
That Sega lineup is beautiful:
Sega
Daytona USA Circuit Edition (SS)
Sega Ages: OutRun (SS)
Sega Ages: AfterBurner II (SS)
Sakura Taisen (SS) <clairement l'autre jeu du salon>
Virtua Cop 2 (SS)
Fighting Vipers (SS)
Riglord Saga 2 (SS)
Victory Goal Worldwide Edition (SS) <version "internationale" de V-Goal '96, alias WorldWide Soccer 97 chez nous, meilleure simu de foot en 1996~1997>
Virtual On (SS)
I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what the two secret items are in D3P's lineup, even if one of them is EDF5. As a frothing EDF fanboy, I will always welcome a new EDF from Sandlot, or any game involving giant things from Sandlot (Robot Alchemic Drive VR would be great....). It's kind of a weird feeling for D3P to be something to be really excited for at TGS, though.
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| "Re(2):TGS then, EDF now" , posted Wed 14 Sep 02:45
quote:
I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what the two secret items are in D3P's lineup, even if one of them is EDF5. As a frothing EDF fanboy, I will always welcome a new EDF from Sandlot, or any game involving giant things from Sandlot (Robot Alchemic Drive VR would be great....). It's kind of a weird feeling for D3P to be something to be really excited for at TGS, though.
There's nothing wrong with more EDF. Persona, Ni-Oh, yadda, yadda, yadda... that's nice but I'm spending 2017 shooting frog soldiers.
Speaking of crowd control, it seems as if Koei-Tecmo has condensed into a single ball of Musou.
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| "Re(4):TGS then, EDF now" , posted Fri 16 Sep 04:01
quote:
And speaking of DoA, it warms my heart and its desire to see a Sega/SNK crossover that the week when Mai's released in DoA5 Last Round, VF's Akira and Pai also happen to be the freely-available characters in the game's F2P version.
Wow cool coincidence :D Not to mention some KOF entries feature the SEGA logo or name somewhere -KOFXI promotional poster because the Atomiswave is a Sega Sammy thing, and the KOFXIV U.S. site because of Atlus's current status.
I almost get moved to tears every freaking time I stumble upon "Nintendo Play Station" stuff. The demise of that collaboration is heavy on my heart. I know this machine's specifications are vastly inferior to the Mega CD and the Super CD-ROM -if I understood Ben Heck's comparison chart-, but hey, that prototype may be a tentative model destined to be drastically upgraded during its development cycle. Either that, or they wanted to pull off another GameBoy in the CD add-on market.
Besides, I believe the long term plan was to make a 32 bit, 3D focused Nintendo-Sony console...Play Station 2? after the Play Station, provided that the Nintendo-Sony partnership took off. I can't help but think how the balance in the video game world could be different if stuff like Tekken and Final Fantasy came out on such a system.
But what left me speechless is that I've only discovered the TCRF Super Disc page today and it was created in March, although I'm an avid TCRF fan. (I also like Unseen64, but I find TCRF more comfortable to browse)
Ore no...kachi da!!
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| | "Re(1):Persona 5 free costumes" , posted Sun 9 Oct 12:12
quote:
• Klei's critically acclaimed Invisible, Inc. is now available on iPad.
Invisible Inc. is a game I really like and really don't like. Being a roguelike, the RNG level design can completely screw you, the lethal weapons feel like vestiges from an earlier design of the game that annoy me whenever they show up as loot because the lethal weapons are so awful, arguably one of the big challenges of the game is figuring out just how much to grind the missions for in order to be able to have an adequate crew/gear to handle the final mission.... but the sneaking mechanics are generally very well thought-out, the notion of a sneaking-based roguelike is neat, I like cyberpunk settings, the presentation is generally excellent, and the characters look cool.
I very much think that it is a game that many will simply play it and hate it, and others will love to pieces.
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| | "Re(1):Persona 5 free costumes" , posted Sun 9 Oct 14:53
quote:
• Thanks Baines. Do you know which work it was used for first? I guess a book?
To try to find a specific source, I looked online. Which was...interesting. Mainly because there are two conflicting periods.
The various free online dictionaries seem to all cite some point in the 1970s as the origin of the word, with none giving any source.
The alternative is the Oxford English Dictionary, which I've seen repeatedly seen sourced by others as giving the word a specific origin year of 1958. (Online articles as well as the book English Lexicogenesis give this year, crediting the OED as their source.) The problem with going direct to the source for more details is that the OED's online presence is a paid subscription service.
That leaves Wikipedia, which is always questionable... Interestingly enough, Wikipedia's page for "prequel" does mention the OED, and goes further by claiming that the OED itself cites a 1958 sci-fi magazine article as the first use of the word in print. Specifically, an article by Magazine of Science Fiction & Fantasy editor Anthony Butcher, referring to the 1956 story They Shall Have Stars by James Blish, a prequel to Blish's 1955 story Earthman Come Home. (But since the source link is to a spot behind the OED's subscription wall, I can't confirm that citation.)
Wikipedia goes on to connect the term, via some dubious wording in an old Salon article, to the 1979 film Butch and Sundance: The Early Days.
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| | "Re(2):Persona 5 free costumes" , posted Tue 11 Oct 06:42
quote:
I wonder why such a neologism suddenly become synonym with "predecessor" / "precursor" / "precedent" / "previous episode" / "preceding episode" / many proper terms already available.
quote:
The various free online dictionaries seem to all cite some point in the 1970s as the origin of the word, with none giving any source.
The alternative is the Oxford English Dictionary, which I've seen repeatedly seen sourced by others as giving the word a specific origin year of 1958. (Online articles as well as the book English Lexicogenesis give this year, crediting the OED as their source.) The problem with going direct to the source for more details is that the OED's online presence is a paid subscription service.
That leaves Wikipedia, which is always questionable... Interestingly enough, Wikipedia's page for "prequel" does mention the OED, and goes further by claiming that the OED itself cites a 1958 sci-fi magazine article as the first use of the word in print. Specifically, an article by Magazine of Science Fiction & Fantasy editor Anthony Butcher, referring to the 1956 story They Shall Have Stars by James Blish, a prequel to Blish's 1955 story Earthman Come Home. (But since the source link is to a spot behind the OED's subscription wall, I can't confirm that citation.)
Wikipedia goes on to connect the term, via some dubious wording in an old Salon article, to the 1979 film Butch and Sundance: The Early Days.
Well, "prequel" is useful because with one word you can immediately convey three distinct things simultaneously without any room for error.
1. The work in question is related to an existing fiction/body of work.
2. The work in question occurs earlier in the chronology of this existing fiction/body of work.
3. The work in question is not the seminal work in the series; it builds on ideas/characters/concepts that already exist.
If I hear someone talking about a film's predecessor or a previous episode, I'm going to assume that it's older... that this precursor was actually conceived and created by the author/artist first and is an earlier expression of their ideas. I don't have any other info to go on unless you tell me that this episode is "new" or "the latest addition to the series" or something like that. And at that point I may already have a preconceived notion that needs to be corrected, and there's the possibility for some type of misunderstanding.
Prequel may be something that someone pulled out of their ass, but it saves a lot of words.
I'm personally more annoyed by "Episode Zero." Zero is the absence of something, it has no value. It's nothing at all! So why would I want to watch it? You'd better have some good cover art or be Gackt to really pique my curiosity.
/ / /
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| PSN: Ishmael26b
XBL: n/a
Wii: n/a
STM: n/a
CFN: Ishmael26b
| "Re(1):Thumper! THUMPER! THUMP!" , posted Tue 11 Oct 23:39
quote:
• Thumper is out early and you should buy it.
Thumper looks like the scarab from Journey album covers is going up against the arcade game Tempest and the arcade cabinet art for Tempest. I can't imagine what it's like to play since even the YouTube videos are trippy as all hell. Still, the throbbing, oppressive "music" is better than pretty much anything Journey put out.
quote:
The alternative is the Oxford English Dictionary, which I've seen repeatedly seen sourced by others as giving the word a specific origin year of 1958. (Online articles as well as the book English Lexicogenesis give this year, crediting the OED as their source.) The problem with going direct to the source for more details is that the OED's online presence is a paid subscription service.
That leaves Wikipedia, which is always questionable... Interestingly enough, Wikipedia's page for "prequel" does mention the OED, and goes further by claiming that the OED itself cites a 1958 sci-fi magazine article as the first use of the word in print. Specifically, an article by Magazine of Science Fiction & Fantasy editor Anthony Butcher, referring to the 1956 story They Shall Have Stars by James Blish, a prequel to Blish's 1955 story Earthman Come Home. (But since the source link is to a spot behind the OED's subscription wall, I can't confirm that citation.)
For what it's worth, I looked up "prequel" in the OED and can confirm it lists the 1958 article as the first quotation of the word. By 1973 "prequel" was used in a London Times article about The Silmarillon so it looks like it was a word that developed in genre writing and since then has been spreading into common usage.
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| | "Re(3):Thumper! THUMPER! THUMP!" , posted Wed 12 Oct 11:08
quote:
or what it's worth, I looked up "prequel" in the OED and can confirm it lists the 1958 article as the first quotation of the word.
That's nice to know. I'd run into sources quoting the OED, but had no way of checking myself, and it was weird seeing all those free online dictionaries saying the term only dated back to the 70s.
Funny thing is, there is a slight chance I actually had the 1958 magazine in question at some point. I used to own a ton of such old sci-fi magazines that I'd grabbed for cheap from an old (long closed for decades) book store that had itself gotten them from somewhere.
The Foundation books by Asimov absolutely had a prequel, with original collected stories having been written in the late 40's/early 50's, while the book Prelude to Foundation was published in the 80's. Prelude to Foundation is very much a prequel, detailing events that occurred prior to the first set of the Foundation stories. I'm quite sure that Prelude to Foundation was described even then as a "prequel", but it being a product of the 80s puts it pretty far off of the earliest reported occurrences of the word. Nevertheless, as an influential science fiction story, it certainly predates the Phantom Menace. I would not be surprised if the Phantom Menace represented the entry of the word into the mainstream consciousness and lexicon, though.
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| | "Gyakuten 15" , posted Thu 13 Oct 00:15
`ヽ､llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll`ヽ､_,-,
-―--`lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllﾉ
`ヽ､lllllllllllllllllllllllllll, - ､ll､_ll､ヽlllllllllllllllノ-,
￣ヾllllllll/⌒ｌ､lllllll-- `ヾシﾉ|彡
_ノll/ ⌒l `|ll/´ -､ /
`)ll| (`Y´ 二`ヽ､_ |
／lll`l`-| （ |;;lll| '´,イ´
,-'´／|`ヽ-┐ `￣' ﾉ
＿_, -‐/;;;;;;/ | | l
;;;;;;;;;;;;;/;;;;;;;| `l l､ ` , -'
;;;;;;;;;;/;;;;;;;;;;;| `l､ `ヽ､ -――-/
┌‐┴───┐ ヽ､ `ヽ､ 人
│ナルホド| `ヽ､ `＞┬イ `､
├───‐─┴─────────────────────────────
│We are celebrating the 15th anniversary of Gyakuten Saiban.
│Speaking of which, GS4 is getting a smartphone release.
└───────────────────────────────────
Même Narumi est épatée !
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| | "Re(1):Gyakuten 15" , posted Thu 13 Oct 03:05
quote:
`ヽ､llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll`ヽ､_,-,
-―--`lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllﾉ
`ヽ､lllllllllllllllllllllllllll, - ､ll､_ll､ヽlllllllllllllllノ-,
￣ヾllllllll/⌒ｌ､lllllll-- `ヾシﾉ|彡
_ノll/ ⌒l `|ll/´ -､ /
`)ll| (`Y´ 二`ヽ､_ |
／lll`l`-| （ |;;lll| '´,イ´
,-'´／|`ヽ-┐ `￣' ﾉ
＿_, -‐/;;;;;;/ | | l
;;;;;;;;;;;;;/;;;;;;;| `l l､ ӌ
-- Message too long, Autoquote has been Snipped --
Meanwhile in the west we are still waiting for a localization of Dai Gyakuten Saiban, and still had the last game only as a digital delivery, despite all the (empty) promises of Crapcom.
|
| | "Re(3):Gyakuten 15" , posted Thu 13 Oct 14:21
quote:
I find the cases too long
It has almost certainly the longest final case in the history of the series.
I think my final play time for this game, having not yet done the DLC case, is nearly 40 hours. It's substantial!
One of the odd things about this game character-wise for me is that there seems to be a very high proportion of anime-beautiful girls/women in the game. I liked how in the GBA ones, there were certainly beautiful women, but they came alongside a zany cast of characters with all kinds of unusual faces. There were "cute" girls who weren't typical anime moe looking, whether it was Maya/Mayoi or Pearl/Harumi, glamorous women that had creases and wrinkles on their faces, and women that were not at all ugly but weren't being pushed as gorgeous/beautiful/anime-cute like Lotta/Natsumi.
Though I get that the "line of thinking" thing you do at the climax of a case is meant to be more 3D, I don't think it looks as good as the inky one of AA5, whose energy and intensity were fantastic to me.
Even though it feels a little disjointed at times, overall I still think I like it more than AA5, and certainly more than AA4. It's fairly difficult for any game to capture the magic of the first experience of AA1, or the capstone climax of AA3, but I like that the outcome of AA6 has significant implications for the AA universe and its characters.
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| | "Re(3):Gyakuten 15" , posted Thu 13 Oct 18:41
quote:
I assume there must be a good reason, as the digital Western sales seem stable enough to secure profits. The fact they never clearly explained (I believe?) what's problematic lead me to believe there is either a legal or PR issue with the game contents.
My own assumptions are: either Capcom is afraid too many GS games in the west is going to over-saturate the franchise there, or internal politics.
As in, the franchise is now in the hands of a team whose job is to keep the series going as long as possible in Japan AND the west, hence capitalizing on safe aspects: fanservice, pretty characters and a setting less annoying to localize (fantasy Tibet). On another wing of the Capcom office, Takushu can do his auteur thing the way he wants, without having to bend his writing for the (perceived needs of the) international market. I'm not sure the case centered around the parody of Souseki Natsume would have been greenlit without this arrangement, for example.
Hopefully that means he can lead DGS the way he wants, end it when he wants without having the pressure to keep going because "people want more", and then move to another Ghost-Trick type of jewel.
|
| | "Re(4):Gyakuten 15" , posted Fri 14 Oct 04:21
quote:
My own assumptions are: either Capcom is afraid too many GS games in the west is going to over-saturate the franchise there, or internal politics.
Ah but of course! Capcom's famed aversion for saturating the market.
I understand where you are coming from but it does not make sense to me that they would stop the release DGS for fear it would not be accepted in the Western market, when it makes prominent use of possibly the most iconic character in the history of Western literature since Jesus. They have been bending over backwards with the "this is happening in LA" charade, almost to the point of self-parody at this stage (the recent translations are clearly tongue-in-cheek on this specific topic), so I really don't think a cameo/reference to a Japanese author would be such a big issue. Are we supposed to believe that most Japanese fans know who are the people on their banknotes?
I am more thinking of something like, there'd be a minor necessary clearance with the use of the Sherlock IP, or something which is specifically copyrighted about his look which they forgot to get clearance from before they released DGS in Japan, and now going through the process would not only endanger the Western release of the game but would also retroactively make DGS wrong in Japan, or something to that effect. From my experience, that's more the kind of typical reason why some games get mysteriously stuck in Japan.
Or it's a conspiracy and nobody wants Takushu to succeed again. Or it's a mighty conspiracy and Takushu requested not to make the game too successful because success only brings him trouble while failure and disappointment is a much calmer sea to calmly drown into.
quote:
a setting less annoying to localize (fantasy Tibet)
That's a good question. I don't think localizing was the main reason for this setting. Playing the game, it seems to me they built the entire thing backwards. I don't necessarily mean that in a negative way, although it would connote priorities which might explain some issues I have with the game.
I join you on the analysis "they are thinking long term". But I rather think it went like this: they first decided what they wanted to have achieved with this new game, and where they wanted the characters to be standing at the end of the game.
I won't go into details of the story and characters development to avoid spoiling someone who wants to play GS6 soon, but I think a good example which doesn't spoil too much is Mayoi(Maya). As touted in the promo of the game, GS6 is her big comeback. So first, they needed a reason to kinda explain where she had been. Then, they needed a reason for her to come back (and/or be in danger again). Also, they needed a way to set up where they wanted her to be at the end of the game.
GS5 was all about erasing the mistakes of GS4: improving the personality of Odoroki(Apollo) and find a new role for him in the series, bring back Naruhodo(Phoenix) as the main character and a more relatable protagonist, etc. GS6 is all about "what people like are the original cast, let's find a way to bring back Mayoi together with Naruhodo while still finding a place for all those new characters to contribute, and conclude some story arcs we had never really resolved".
Meanwhile, juggling with all these considerations, they also need (or at least they assume they need) some new gimmick, like the bracelet in GS4 or the emotion scanner in GS5, to bring a different approach and a fresh experience to the trials. I think this is highly debatable, but whatevs, it seems to be their direction : each new game needs it's new gimmick.
With all these considerations in mind, they had to built a story and a context which could comply with all the targets. Fantasy Tibet ends up doing a pretty good job in that regard. That's where Mayoi went studying, because it's the origin of the Kurain sect. Since it's a brand new setting, a few more loose ends are tied conveniently. And since the gimmick they found is "let's see through the eyes of the victim when they die", they added that magic princess. And since they added the magic princess, they had to put her into the plot. And to put her into the plot, let's consider the royal family. But why would Naruhodo actually act as a lawyer there, in the first place? A-ha, let's say there are literally no other lawyers in that country. But why would there be no lawyers? Well, let's make that the big mystery behind the main plot. Etc.
Même Narumi est épatée !
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| | "Re(5):Gyakuten 15" , posted Fri 14 Oct 04:55
quote:
Are we supposed to believe that most Japanese fans know who are the people on their banknotes?
This is a point that I have literally no knowledge about!
In the USA, the faces on the banknotes are VERY well known people. George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Ben Franklin, etc. Sure not everybody might know detailed history about them, but everybody recognizes them and can name them. They are, in fact, American icons.
In Canada, it's a bit less so. We known that's Queen Elizabeth, we probably know that's John A McDonald, but I can assure you that nobody in my family would remember Robert Borden off the top of their heads (including myself!).
What's the case in Japan with Japanese currency?
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| | "Re(7):Gyakuten 15" , posted Fri 14 Oct 09:33:
quote:
I doubt 100% knows about the London thing, but anyone who listened during high school probably knows.
That's more specifically what I was was talking about. I know Sōseki is famous enough (although he has been replaced on the 1000 note recently) that any Japanese adult would generally know his identity, but I am not convinced fans of Gyakuten Saiban would know anything substantial about his life and understand the references in the game. The same way that I am sure most French people could recognize a picture of Victor Hugo or Emile Zola, but I am pessimistic enough to assume a reference to a similar episode of their life inside a video game would fly over most French gamers' head. Maybe my opinion on the average player's culture is too grim.
Regarding Takushu, he is still employed and active at Capcom, unless there is some shocking news looming and we learn he is not directly involved in DGS2, so that means he is getting paid to do what he enjoys. And he seems to have foregone any desire to go higher in hierarchy, since he keeps getting new producers above him, which means he does not have to deal with any managerial bullshit or even production/promotional issues. He wasn't even at the DGS2 reveal event for the 15th anniversary stage show at TGS, which... OK, that was a bit weird, but maybe he is happy not to do that anymore? At the very least, that means he can focus on writing stories and developing ideas, which I would assume fits what he really wants to spend time on.
Même Narumi est épatée !
[this message was edited by chazumaru on Fri 14 Oct 09:40] |
| | "Re(9):Gyakuten 15" , posted Fri 14 Oct 23:41:
quote:
Could it be that GS as a series is more popular amongst people with a slightly higher cultural background than your average mobile game / Danganronpa? Or also that they are older?
Or maybe that DaiGS is aimed towards this particular demographics, while GS6 aimed to a wider audience?
For example, I know the new Sherlock Holmes series is popular in Japan, but it would be interesting to know the average profile of the fans.
Maybe? No idea about the average cultural background of GS players. I do agree they probably skew older overall, and for sure more female than the average 3DS user. If only because I am not sure the series has recruited so many new fans since the GBA/DS era.
I am also quite curious about who makes up the DGS userbase. You have a very optimisitic theory. As you know, I am a rather skeptical person so I rarely vote my confidence for the best possible outcome Humanity could spawn. I'd rather expect the slighty smaller DGS audience to be mostly composed of a subset of GS fans who'd buy anything Gyakuten-relatd, even Gyakuten Tennis or Gyakuten Puyo Puyo. Of course there must be a niche of true Takushu fans like you (or other lapsed GS players who came back for other reasons), and some newcomers.
I think the missed opportunity with DGS is definitely the lack of newcomers and I wonder why more people did not bite for a reboot. It was a great opportunity to jump in, in the same way GS6 is the worst possible opportunity to jump in.
That being said, I would not be surprised if DGS2 improved the situation, especially if they apply the usual long-tail strategy and release the Best hits version of DGS, then the iPhone version, + the usual good sales of the used copies as the promotion of DGS2 ramps up, all those opportunities grabbing more players for DGS and getting more people excited for DGS2. I am sure many regular GS players thought « I'll give DGS a chance later/cheaper » because they were not sure the new setting would work out for them, or they were getting tired of the series at that point.
After all, GS remains the poster child of long-tail sales and word-of-mouth adoption, and this has happened on a worldwide scale. That's precisely why they can't rely on retail in the West anymore: with each episode the potentiel users took way to long to want the game, and then complained they could not find it anymore.
Which brings me back to my initial point: in many ways, Gyakuten's Western fans act the same way as Japanese fans. And they already had to swallow some insane contrivances and blurred references when the original trilogy got adapted, so it's not like a literary reference going over their head was gonna be a huge issue either.
Cap deliberately left money on the table despite the worst subset of Western fans harassing them on social media to release DGS in the West. Occam's Razor says we should not look too far for a valid reason why. It's probably some third party being too greedy or too procedural to let them release the game.
Même Narumi est épatée !
[this message was edited by chazumaru on Fri 14 Oct 23:44] |
| | "Re(6):Gyakuten 15" , posted Sat 15 Oct 00:59
quote:
In the USA, the faces on the banknotes are VERY well known people. George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Ben Franklin, etc. Sure not everybody might know detailed history about them, but everybody recognizes them and can name them. They are, in fact, American icons.
I think you might be over-estimating American knowledge. If you showed an average American a $20 bill and asked them who was pictured on it, I'd bet a fair number couldn't tell you "Andrew Jackson", much less tell you anything about him.
People know George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, because they are hammered into them via the school system. People know Franklin for the same reason, though I wouldn't be entirely surprised if you managed to find a few people who didn't make the connection that $100 bills are called "Benjamins" because they picture Benjamin Franklin.
People might recognize Grant's name, since he was a major Civil War figure. Jackson, they might recognize the name but not know for what (and some will just assume that he is a President because he's on a bill. Just as you can get people who think Franklin was a President if you make that president-bill connection first.) Hamilton? Not very likely at all.
Jefferson, people would have recognized his name, but so few places want to even bother with the $2 bill that you hardly ever see one, and there is a common (incorrect) belief that the bill is no longer in circulation and/or is a collector's item.
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| | "Re(7):Gyakuten 15" , posted Sat 15 Oct 05:28
quote:
I think you might be over-estimating American knowledge. If you showed an average American a $20 bill and asked them who was pictured on it, I'd bet a fair number couldn't tell you "Andrew Jackson", much less tell you anything about him.
People know George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, because they are hammered into them via the school system. People know Franklin for the same reason, though I wouldn't be entirely surprised if you managed to find a few people who didn't make the connection that $100 bills are called "Benjamins" because they picture Benjamin Franklin.
When we used to have Francs, I think everyone knew who was Delacroix (100F) or later Saint-Exupéry (50F), because there was a big hint on the other side of the bill (boobs, Prince). I don't think anyone would have recognized them if not for the hint. For example I only learnt that was supposed to be Debussy now.
Eiffel and the Curie, from the later generation, were very obvious too.
I grew up with the boring bills (mostly brown and grey, the Early 2000 AAA videogame palette), full of people I didn't, and still don't, really care about (except Debussy, he's cool). The following ones, with the garish red and almost neon blue, were much better but short lived because of the Euro. I regret I didn't get to use those, though. At least no one would have asked who's the guy on this bill.
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| | "Re(8):Gyakuten 15" , posted Sat 15 Oct 11:51:
quote:
Eiffel and the Curie, from the later generation, were very obvious too.
Man, in retrospect, that final generation of French Francs was pretty cool, both for its visual execution and via the roster of characters. Too bad it got squeezed out so quickly because it came out at the wrong time. It's the Street Fighter III 3rd Strike of French banknotes.
I remember in the mid-Nineties, the Swiss deliberately picked a roster of "Famous Swiss who nobody outside Switzerland realizes they are Swiss" (like Le Corbusier, Giacometti or Honegger) in order to educate foreigners involved with Swiss Francs. I am sure Pablo Escobar would have appreciated the effort if they came quickly enough.
FuRyu is back.
Thumper gets amazing around Level 4. I love that, instead of being forced to follow one unique proper pattern, you can improve and invent your own combos by diverting the original intended route/actions into a new logical sequence you improvised on the spot. I wholeheartedly recommend this game to any human being or sentient AI.
Même Narumi est épatée !
[this message was edited by chazumaru on Sat 15 Oct 11:59] |
| | "Re(3):RANDOM GAMES! #33: The Trilogy of Error" , posted Tue 1 Nov 03:56:
quote:
Random game I didn't even played but I'm curious: does anyone knows a game called Duelyst?
It's a card-gane online with F2P mechanics like Hearthstone but with a tactical phase.
I haven't played it because I discovered it after the release of Civ 6 so sorry no time Teddy Roosevelt needs his butt to be kicked, but this pixel art is very MMC-compliant.
Those will probably remind you of a fighting game or Fire Emblem character or a Pokémon.
Does anyone play it? I wouldn't be surprised it someone here worked on the game or knows someone who did.
There were people at my old office that loved the game to bits. I didn't want to play it because of its PVP focus, even though it is a nice looking game.
I actually tried this game when it was in beta last year. The art is pretty great!
Unfortunately the same free-to-play grind that killed my interest in other games struck here as well. First I play a bit and get used to it. If I'm enjoying it I keep playing, but I start to get tired of using the same cards/units to grind out wins. No matter how well the game is balanced, every once in a while you lose a match to someone you know you outplayed but who has a better deck.
Then I look at the available pool and think of the strategies I want to try out, and then feel bummed out or resentful when I don't get the cards/units I want (the resentment is usually triggered by spending money).
It's happening now with the Gwent beta, actually. In a way it's nice to be able to sample games for free and get out before they consume too much of my time, but I usually do end up spending a number of hours grinding to try and get what I want before I admit that it's not going to happen. Sometimes I have spent a modest amount of money and quit right after.... did I pay out of guilt for playing so long, even if a lot of it was grinding? Or did I pay with the naive hope that I'm going to get all most dynamic, useful, fun and powerful cards in one go?
Well, if you'll excuse me I'm going to go disenchant (they call it mill) a bunch of cards that I may want to use later. My personality draws me to these things, but it also ruins them for me.
/ / /
[this message was edited by Mosquiton on Tue 1 Nov 03:59] |
| | "Re(3):The Effects of Mass" , posted Fri 11 Nov 06:52
quote:
I'm not thrilled with the trailer because early on in the discussion of Andromeda they mentioned it being about the frontier, but the trailer is 100% Inception-noise action as the guys desperately gunfight against some monsters and a sinister humanoid alien. The atmosphere of the trailer is all "ooh sinister danger and desperate struggle for survival". It's utterly humorless.
It's not that any element of it looks bad, but rather that it doesn't communicate any super grand aspirations of exploration, role-playing, deep story/setting, etc. which is what I hope for from Mass Effect.
Admittedly, the trailers for ME2 and ME3 were kind of like that, too, and ME2 had plenty of great story in it.
It might entirely be possible that their long term strategy is to have DA be the largehuge exploration RPG and ME grows ever narrower in roleplaying scope as a more action-focused narrative.
Well, they have straight-up said that Andromeda is open world. Trailers, you can't trust 'em!
/ / /
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| | "Re(7):Family Computer" , posted Mon 21 Nov 13:08
quote:
Nintendo has not only put up the original instruction manuals for the Famicom Mini but they are available in different languages to boot. The English booklet for FF1 is over eighty pages!
Wow! I'd heard that they were really neverous about getting Americans to like RPGs (didn't they give away Dragon Quest for free or something), and this friendly guide confirms. The trend continues with Final Fantasy VI: have you ever seen the American manual? It's lavish and in color, full of Amano's art, a thousand times more pleasant than the simple Japanese original even if it has the classier box.
This is also a good time to remember that Super Mario USA ("2") kept the "Subcon" world name when moving back to Japan, and that Mario 1 has a weird undercurrent of Mushroom death since everyone is turned into bricks and plants according to the instruction book, which Mario destroys...not that the designers were probably thinking even slightly about it in those terms, of course.
I own an original NES FF1 with all its packaging and manual materials and it was NUTS. It comes with foldout maps of many of the dungeons, a walkthrough for the early part of the game, charts showing you the different gear/spells in the game and which classes can use them, charts showing the different enemies in the game and their abilities/weaknesses/HP/etc. (not all of which was correct!), and it even named "Chaos", but didn't show his sprite.
Metal Gear 1 on NES came with detailed maps and info about the different bosses and their weaknesses.
On the other hand, Strider on NES came with barely any info at all beyond the regular little manual.
Dragon Quest 1 on NES also came with an early-game walkthrough!
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| PSN: MickyKusanagi
XBL: n/a
Wii: n/a
STM: n/a
CFN: MickyKusanagi
| "Re(2):The Nonary + Code of Princess" , posted Mon 28 Nov 16:49
Maou, I love that game to death, though I admit it easily gets repetitive, turning into a matter of equipping your character with the most effective bonuses for the level/bonus quest you're about to tackle and do the same one or two moves over and over again. Move sets definitely aren't on par with Guardian Heroes IMO. But you can ease the repetitiveness by completing it with all the characters. Only the first 4 characters are playable in all modes IIRC, but any other character is playable in regular levels without following the story and in the bonus quests, so there's plenty to mess around with. Plus, as Nobi said, the storyline is fun and model animation is good. I love its soundtrack too. Go for that nonary price tag :D
By the way, I searched Google a couple times for a story related tidbit, but had no luck...
Spoiler (Highlight to view) -
what does Liongate/Schwarz tell Solange in the Japanese version in the last scene -it's limited to one of the two endings if I remember well-, when he gets the second "mou...ecchi!!" from his beloved little sister complete with a strike in his balls? Is it the same as the English version, "please cover yourself when you go out"? I doubt it...
End of Spoiler
Ore no...kachi da!!
|
| | "Re(2):The Nonary Games are back... well, exce" , posted Tue 29 Nov 21:20
quote:
Not really fresh news, but last month Spike Chunsoft announced the Zero Escape: The Nonary Games compilation for PS4, PSVita and PC. It brings both 999 (with high-resolution graphics and voice acting) and Virtue's Last Reward.
The weird thing is, while it's understandable that Zero Time Dilemma isn't present in the PSVita and PC versions of ZE:TNG (as it was already released in these systems), it won't be included in the PS4 version, either. I know it wasn't as praised as its predecessors, but it could be a way to have more people interested in the compilation.
It's also not a Nonary Game like the other two games are so they'd have to change that clever title to something else.
That's right, it's a Decision Game... well, nevertheless, it's the final part of the Zero Escape trilogy, and since there are nine participants with their lives on the line, this game is still kinda "nonary"...
I can be any person in the world... maybe I'm this person right in front of you... maybe I'm not.
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| | "Re(3):The Nonary Games are back... well, exce" , posted Wed 30 Nov 16:03
quote:
Not really fresh news, but last month Spike Chunsoft announced the Zero Escape: The Nonary Games compilation for PS4, PSVita and PC. It brings both 999 (with high-resolution graphics and voice acting) and Virtue's Last Reward.
The weird thing is, while it's understandable that Zero Time Dilemma isn't present in the PSVita and PC versions of ZE:TNG (as it was already released in these systems), it won't be included in the PS4 version, either. I know it wasn't as praised as its predecessors, but it could be a way to have more people interested in the compilation.
It's also not a Nonary Game like the other two games are so they'd have to change that clever title to something else.
That's right, it's a Decision Game... well, nevertheless, it's the final part of the Zero Escape trilogy, and since there are nine participants with their lives on the line, this game is still kinda "nonary"...
Don't look at this if you haven't actually played Zero Time Dilemma.
Spoiler (Highlight to view) -
Until you consider there's actually ten players in which case the 'deci' in Decision game takes a whole another meaning
End of Spoiler
I found Kagami's sword in a junk yard.
I will rule the world and find that truly good cup of coffee.
"Dink-a-dink-a-dink-a-do."
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| PSN: zonepharaoh
XBL: n/a
Wii: n/a
STM: n/a
CFN: zonepharaoh
| "Code of Maou" , posted Sat 3 Dec 16:20
Hahahah, oh lord Code of Princess may be the dumbest game I've bought in a long time. Note that I didn't say "bad," necessarily. Kinu is the obviously the reason to get it, and they know how to get your attention from the start. There's a lot of uninteresting characters running around, even if the dialogue between characters frequently makes me laugh. I wish the game were more fun, though! Lots of mash. I'm starting to wonder if Dragon's Crown, in addition to being one of the finest games ever made, is also an anomaly as an RPG beat-em-up that's actually fun. Sure, it looks nicer than Code, but what are the other reasons it's so much more fun to brawl? Maybe it's having real stages. Either way, I still wish Kinu and Kamitani would team up for a game. They're friends, after all!
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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| | "Let It Die is quite the roguelike" , posted Tue 6 Dec 04:43
I honestly don't like the combat, which is what you mostly do in the game, I personally try to stay away from roguelikes because after a dozen plus hours I feel existential dread, but Let It Die has the funniest and most stylish first hour-plus. It's Grasshopper through and through. It's got amazing and bizarre images and characters, a lot of low-fi aesthetics, and a possibly too-gritty/too-edgy punk feel.
It's a F2P game where the microtransactions mostly have to do with character resurrection in the form of insurance.
It being F2P means that you should also all try it out! I think the one downer of it in terms of its intro to the game is the sheer volume of text notes you have to read that you can easily forget, even if they are presented in a way that's amusing. The notebook you have in the game showing achievements/objectives/past notes/etc. looks quite nice, too! Where Ni-Oh has the Dark Souls bloodstains serve as summons for AI-controlled versions of those players, in Let It Die your dead will automatically appear in other people's games, and in your own. Defeating them allows you to reclaim them in your game, which is a cool mechanic.
I don't know how much of it I'll actually play, what with FFXV in my hands and TLG coming up and the fighting of Let It Die not being terrifically great, but it gave me enough goofy grins that I'm tempted to just throw them some money anyway.
Iggy and nobi will probably love the mushroom fanatic.
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| | "Re(2):Nierly (not) Automatic demo" , posted Sat 24 Dec 21:19
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JaP, you'll be happy to see some Kilgore goodness if you haven't already. Also, it looks like 2 other characters are on the way.
Thanks, Micky! It seems that the KI's Definitive Edition that I bought some months ago is no longer definitive... *sigh*
Kilgore looks... exactly how a KI3 fighter would be if the game was developed in the 1990s. Kinda cheesy, but not bad. And it's great that he has his own theme (so far, only Omen and Shadow Jago share the same theme, and that's possibly because it fits both of them), which I like better than Fulgore's.
I'm curious to see the other two fighters. I doubt they will get their own stages, but hopefully they will get good, individual music themes (unless they're more guest characters; if that's the case, I couldn't care less about them). The djinn and magic archer concepts in the poll conducted before Eyedol's reveal could be very interesting...
I can be any person in the world... maybe I'm this person right in front of you... maybe I'm not.
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"Re(1):SPLATBOOBS" , posted Thu 6 Oct 01:55
That is a pet peeve of mine. Technically a "prequel" (as in "sequel happening previously") was coined for The Phantom Menace, and denotes new releases which are situated chronologically before the event of the previous episode. I wonder why such a neologism suddenly become synonym with "predecessor" / "precursor" / "precedent" / "previous episode" / "preceding episode" / many proper terms already available.
who follow the path of a warrior
"Motto hostess" , posted Sun 4 Dec 21:11
