Messages

10526

General Gaming / Re: Who is going to buy a PS3 Slim?

« on: August 18, 2009, 10:08:10 PM »

That was a decision by Squaresoft's translator, Ted Woosely.  The whole spell names translation was done because he figured he'd simplify spell names for space reasons.  Holy became "Pearl" because there were white, pearlish objects, and it was the only holy-based attack in the game.  Don't blame Nintendo just because you don't know why things were named like they were.  Those were limitations of Square's localization process, and they carried over into Final Fantasy VII, in the most part.

Right, I couldn't remember if Holy became "white" or "Pearl".  Thanks for that.  Just to point something out, though: "Holy" = 4 characters.  "Pearl" = 5 characters.  How exactly does changing the spell name from "Holy" to "Pearl" "simply spell names for space reasons"?

He changed it because he thought it was a better name for the attack.  It probably didn't make sense to him how something "Holy" could deal damage.  The entire translation was up to him to do in 30 days, and he didn't consistently make the best decisions, he'll admit that.

Like having characters get "full" on "soup", acting drunk and passing out instead of getting "drunk" on prehistoric liquor?  Yeah, that was priceless. 

10527

General Gaming / Re: Who is going to buy a PS3 Slim?

« on: August 18, 2009, 10:02:04 PM »

That was a decision by Squaresoft's translator, Ted Woosely.  The whole spell names translation was done because he figured he'd simplify spell names for space reasons.  Holy became "Pearl" because there were white, pearlish objects, and it was the only holy-based attack in the game.  Don't blame Nintendo just because you don't know why things were named like they were.  Those were limitations of Square's localization process, and they carried over into Final Fantasy VII, in the most part.

Right, I couldn't remember if Holy became "white" or "Pearl".  Thanks for that.  Just to point something out, though: "Holy" = 4 characters.  "Pearl" = 5 characters.  How exactly does changing the spell name from "Holy" to "Pearl" "simply spell names for space reasons"?

10528

General Gaming / Re: Who is going to buy a PS3 Slim?

« on: August 18, 2009, 09:45:02 PM »

Two of those games were released before the ESRB was formed.
Also were they censored in America or everywhere? And what was cut?

The fact of the matter is, when the ESRB became firmly in place, Nintendo dropped almost all of their censorship policies.

It was minor stuff in FFVI and Chrono Trigger, things like spell names ("Holy" became "White" and the whole thing in CT with "Toma's Soda" and the characters getting "full" on "stew" instead of getting drunk on sake) and whatnot.  It was a little more serious in FFIV, where (on top of the usual spell stuff) we had things like a guilloitine in a critical cutscene turned into a giant stone ball or something.  It's been so long since I played the SNES Final Fantasies that my memory's a bit fuzzy.  I just remember in general you couldn't have references to Christianity, so that's how we had things like crosses changed to hearts and holy->white.

Speaking of fuzzy, when did the ESRB get established?  I could have sworn FFVI and CT came out after the ESRB's establishment, since those two games released fairly close to one another.

Cartridges have better durability and so does the system which plays them. I don't recall ever hearing about the Nintendo 64 having any kind of failure rate...

No disagreeing with that.  You had to actively try to break an N64 and even a GameCube, whereas the PS1/PS2 were notorious for really shoddy construction.

10529

General Gaming / Re: Who is going to buy a PS3 Slim?

« on: August 18, 2009, 09:40:46 PM »

broodwars, do you know who decided to do the censorship on those games?  Didn't the censorship carry over into PS re-releases of those games?

The only reason Nintendo picked up the image that it was for younger crowds wasn't because of Sony, anyways.  That was the lasting effect of Sega's marketing campaign, which just stuck, thanks to the first Mortal Kombat, even though, as Mop_it_up said, that was rectified with the sequel.  Sony intercepted people who wanted the next Sega by offering a lower priced option, and went from there.

Cartridges, we all know, are still better than discs, anyways, except when it comes to save file management.

Well, things like the spell names in Final Fantasy were corrected for the PS-era of games, though they wouldn't get the naming convention we know now till FF8 implemented the "-a, -ara, -aga, -aja" system.  I never played the PS re-releases of FFIV and FFVI, so I wouldn't know if Square just chose to directly port the old code or not.

As for the whole "catridges vs. discs" thing, I'm kind of inbetween on the whole issue.  On the one hand, it is nice to just throw a cart in and have everything you need right there.  No memory cards, etc.  And the short loading times of the cart era and even the well-coded GCN games were certainly much appreciated.  On the other hand, you got really good-quality sound on the PS1 and really outstanding sound on the PS2.  Being able to use multiple discs also allowed FMV, something that in general I certainly enjoyed (though I lean towards using the in-game engine when possible) but also allowed for better execution of crucial story elements.  The 3D graphics were ugly on both the PS1 and N64, though they certainly looked worse on the PS1 with its horrid textures.

Besides, these days we're all just saving our data to hard drives or flash drives anyway and the loading times have improved, so it sort of feels like the cartridge days again now anyway.

10530

General Gaming / Re: Who is going to buy a PS3 Slim?

« on: August 18, 2009, 09:30:52 PM »

Nintendo lifted their censorship because of the ESRB, not because of Sony. Need I remind you that games like Mortal Kombat II and Doom were released on the SNES uncensored?

Need I remind you that games like Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy VI, and even (in a few small moments) Chrono Trigger were released on the SNES censored?

10531

General Gaming / Re: Who is going to buy a PS3 Slim?

« on: August 18, 2009, 09:17:16 PM »

Exactly. Nintendo proved they are the innovators and others copy at this years E3 when both Sony and Microsoft basically admitted Nintendo was right by announcing their own motion controllers. Nintendo also basically revived the video game industry in North America (and to a less extent in Europe and Australia since some of the computer game systems continued surviving their, but the consoles had collapsed).

Nintendo proved that they were the innovators this generation, no doubt about that.  But some of you guys have a real short memory regarding the PS1/PS2 era.  Sony's the company that brought gaming into the mainstream with the PS1, expanding the market beyond people like us to people who (at that time) normally wouldn't play games.  Sure, they didn't expand it to the limits that Nintendo has now, but there's a good reason Sony became the console that "everyone" owned and Nintendo became the manufacturer of consoles for "kids" with the N64 and GameCube.  Sony also lifted the heavy veil of censorship that Nintendo legendarily imposed on the NES/SNES.  Was that all because of the addition of disc-based media with the advent of FMV and larger-caliber games that Sony used to market the hell out of their games?  Yes, but I could say something similar about Nintendo this generation: there's been little actually inventive about anything they've put on the Wii this generation, just that it uses a new interface that occasionally enhances the game experience (and in other case, like Mario Galaxy, barely impacts it at all).  In fact, the most inventive game on the Wii this generation wasn't even made by Nintendo: Zack & Wiki.

I'm not taking anything away from what Nintendo did with marketing the Wii, just reminding you all that you aren't giving Sony any credit for what they did with the PS1/PS2.

10532

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories coming October 13th

« on: August 18, 2009, 06:30:15 PM »

With all these games including evil creepy girls, how about making a game where the player is the creepy girl and has to set up the whole scare and kill rigamarole? We never see how much work the evil spirits put into these hell-rides, could be fun to engineer them yourself.

Silent Hill: My Afterlife as a Pyramid Head?

10533

General Gaming / Re: Who is going to buy a PS3 Slim?

« on: August 18, 2009, 06:22:58 PM »

I'll probably just re-install everything.

No EA games, but I do have some Capcom games (RE5, SF4) and I've heard they don't transfer well.

No, they transfer fine. All the trophies are stored server side via PSN. You might as well transfer your saves and redownload all your PSN games.

There are issues with the trophies.  The HDD that I used to backup my data actually belonged to my best friend's father, who insisted on holding onto it while my PS3 was away for repair.  Before I sent the system in, though, I downloaded the first episode of the Penny Arcade Adventures thinking that I'd get some trophies and then just synch up my data with PSN so I'd get that data back.  No, when I restored my data later and my data synched-up with PSN, I lost my trophy data for Penny Arcade because it wasn't on my HDD when I did the backup so somehow my HDD over-rided PSN.  The next time I played Prince of Persia my trophies went all loopy as well, though that eventually sorted itself out.

10534

General Gaming / Re: Who is going to buy a PS3 Slim?

« on: August 18, 2009, 05:03:54 PM »

If I can sell my current 40 gig PS3 (and I know I can), I'm SO buying a Slim. My only worry is transferring game saves, but if I have a big enough USB stick(s), it should be too much trouble. I heard rumors that Capcom saves don't transfer, which doesn't bug me except for RE5, which I've sunk dozens of hours into.

I also read that the game's latest update unlocks save transfers, so I'm plugging that puppy in today and getting the update.

Exciting!

Some EA games don't transfer, don't bother trying to store the 5GB install data files.

He can always just backup his data to an external HDD like I did when I had to send my PS3 in for repairs.  That thing had more than enough room for all my data, even the multi-GB installs.

10535

General Gaming / Re: Who is going to buy a PS3 Slim?

« on: August 18, 2009, 03:59:40 PM »

This PS3 is mostly what the system should have been at launch, as it's priced just right with everything it should have except for backwards compatibility.  If there's any justice, it should beat the crap out of the Wii in sales along with the 360 now, but somehow I doubt it.  Hopefully Sony will announce a proper software update to fix backwards compatibility across the board for all the PS3s, just to sweeten the deal.

Justice? The justice that lead to the stagnation of the PS1-PS2 era? The justice that would have caused the second video game crash if not for the Wii and DS? Sony suffered the consequences of their actions with the PS3 and PSP. THAT'S JUSTICE.

Until the advent of the Wii, the PS1 and PS2 grew gaming more than Nintendo could have ever dreamed.  Sony got justifiably bitch-slapped by the market for pricing the PS3 as they did.  No one's arguing that point.  But the only thing Nintendo proved is that with a clever bit of marketing and a new interface that pretends to do more than it actually does (without an attachment that would come years later), you too can massively sell a console (mostly) without a worthwhile lineup of games so long as the people you sell it to just don't know any better.

Yeah, it sounds like I'm really coming down on the Wii, but I do like the console...on those rare occasions when there's actually a game I want to play on the thing.  I'm more disappointed in the Wii than hate it, mostly because we all know the next great wave of games for it is coming in the future.  It's not a graphical thing, either: I play more PS2 games on my PS3 than PS3 ones (and I do really like my PS3 games), and I have always said that if Wii games were at least as good looking as Final Fantasy X (in art design) I'd be perfectly happy with the system.  The Wii is just not enough for me anymore, and before this generation I was a die-hard Nintendo fanboy that had never bought a non-Nintendo system.

10536

General Gaming / Re: Who is going to buy a PS3 Slim?

« on: August 18, 2009, 03:13:03 PM »

Some games I can recommend on the PS3 (yes, many of these are multi-platform. So what?):

-Valkyria Chronicles - Strategy
-Uncharted: Drake's Fortune - Action/Adventure
-LittleBigPlanet - Platforming
-Dead Space - Action/Adventure/Horror
-Silent Hill Homecoming - Horror
-Alone in the Dark: Inferno - Action/Adventure (Yes, the PS3 version is actuallly good)
-Fallout 3 - RPG
-Prince of Persia - Action/Platforming
-Bioshock - Shooter

This PS3 is mostly what the system should have been at launch, as it's priced just right with everything it should have except for backwards compatibility.  If there's any justice, it should beat the crap out of the Wii in sales along with the 360 now, but somehow I doubt it.  Hopefully Sony will announce a proper software update to fix backwards compatibility across the board for all the PS3s, just to sweeten the deal.

10537

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories coming October 13th

« on: August 18, 2009, 05:41:31 AM »

Meh, the cover's alright.  I could do without the frozen child, though.  I think just something more subtle like artwork of Silent Hill frozen over and twisted would have sold the idea just fine, with maybe the frozen child somewhere in the background to complement the image (along with images of other frozen people in horrid, twisted positions).

10538

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Sega: It's not game over for mature Wii titles

« on: August 18, 2009, 05:08:00 AM »

I supported Sega this year by purchasing those two games and The Conduit (which is more support than Nintendo's gotten from me in almost 1 1/2 years), but if the next line of games they publish aren't significantly better I'm probably not going to be so generous again (especially now that I actually own an HD console).

The first two weren't even released here so all I got was The Conduit. I pretty much regret getting that game. A bland, boring game that doesn't even stack up to the better examples of uninspired games I can buy for a tenner these days and multiplayer that is so technically flawed that it's practically unplayable, never mind that even if it worked it would still play like FEAR's multiplayer (FEAR is probably the epitome of overhyped bland pap and I had a lot more fun even with Doom 3).

Hey, you don't have to convince me that The Conduit is complete and utter ****.  I just figured I'd made my opinion on that game perfectly clear in probably half a dozen threads on this site by now, so I didn't have to repeat myself.  Frankly, I don't think that Overkill or Madworld were leagues better (though to their credit it's actually possible to have fun with those two games for some length of time, and unlike The Conduit they actually seem to have been made by competent...no, scratch that.  Let's steer this in a more positive direction...).  I just have to acknowledge that whatever their faults, Sega took a big risk publishing them.  If Sega wants to continue publishing such games, that's just fine with me provided they put more effort into quality control rather than just shock value or the fact that the genre's under-represented on Wii.  The developers only get the free pass for being "well-intentioned" once.

10539

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Sega: It's not game over for mature Wii titles

« on: August 18, 2009, 04:27:14 AM »

So if they took out everything that made it unique and interesting, it would have sold better? Probably a solid theory.

Hell must have frozen over.  Dirk and I agree on something. 

As for the remarks themselves, I'll only say they're good if it means Sega's upping the ante and actually stressing good M-rated games on Wii.  Overkill and Madworld were good first starts, but as games taken on their own merits they leave a lot to be desired.  I supported Sega this year by purchasing those two games and The Conduit (which is more support than Nintendo's gotten from me in almost 1 1/2 years), but if the next line of games they publish aren't significantly better I'm probably not going to be so generous again (especially now that I actually own an HD console).  Still, they're making good strides and it's amazing the 180 degree difference between the Sega that publishes risky/interesting games on Wii...and the Sega that actually makes games these days (Valkyria Chronicles nonwithstanding).

10540

Podcast Discussion / Re: Radio Free Nintendo: Episode 158

« on: August 17, 2009, 06:03:58 PM »

They longer Nintendo holds back on the VC, the worse this whole retro-piracy thing will get.

Yes blame Nintendo for people doing illegal things.

In this situation yes, I do.  The Virtual Console is how it is because that's how Nintendo has decided it should be.  People will turn to illegal methods to acquire what they want if there is no legal method, and that's something that can only be solved by the one providing the product.

10541

Podcast Discussion / Re: Radio Free Nintendo: Episode 158

« on: August 17, 2009, 10:22:11 AM »

Regarding the Virtual Console/piracy discussion: back in the N64 days I was really big into the SNES ROM Scene.  My family was (and still is) poor, so I had to sell off my SNES to get the N64.  This was a move I mostly regretted for most of the N64's lifespan, so as I got more into the internet I started replaying the old favorites via emulator.  That didn't last too long since the emulators didn't work all that great back then and the experience just wasn't the same without the SNES controller, and any scraps of those files bit the dust when the Virtual Console was announced (I was naive enough to think back then that all my old favorites would get re-released there).  Flash-forward to today and the Virtual Console is a real mixed-bag that has turned into a mockery of late.  We've gotten a lot of the old favorites (hell maybe even most of the well-known ones by now), but the support for the two consoles I was most looking forward to on the service (the SNES and N64) have had a comparatively pitiful showing so far.  Instead of rounding out the quality software on those systems, we get games I don't think most people care about on consoles I don't think most people care about anymore like the Master System and Commodore 64.  For whatever reason Nintendo won't officially announce, we're not getting Earthbound; until very recently nearly anything Square-Enix wasn't coming; etc.  I'm more than happy to have a big family of consoles on the service, but not at the expense of beloved games on the consoles we already have on it.

I don't understand why Nintendo won't go all-out on Virtual Console, as it's pretty obvious they've been stockpiling while trying to drive up WiiWare.  The thing is, they keep treating the service like it's the same market as WiiWare, and somehow I don't see the big "old-school", "hardcore" gamers who really want Virtual Console getting big into WiiWare (especially when most of it is garbage).  Likewise, I don't see the casual, Blue-Ocean demographic of WiiWare jumping into the "old school" Virtual Console.  Why not just release big on both services and let the chips fall where they may?  At least try it for a few weeks with quality titles on both services and see how the sales figures go.

Now, the Virtual Console does look like it could improve in the future if the Super Star Wars trilogy is any indication, but if not I can't blame people if they jump into the whole ROM piracy thing as the alternative.  Nintendo hasn't pushed me back into that, but it's getting rather frustrating knowing that there's a large collection of old games I would gladly buy at Nintendo's arguably-inflated prices to have in my Virtual Console collection...but for reasons only known to Nintendo they just won't release.  They longer Nintendo holds back on the VC, the worse this whole retro-piracy thing will get.

10542

Podcast Discussion / Re: RFN RetroActive Game Nominations

« on: August 15, 2009, 08:59:45 PM »

Isn't Shadow Run a PC game? Or was there an older one on consoles back in the day?

I know it's supposed to be a futuristic D&D. I played the real pen & paper game once upon a time. The DM was a great story teller. One of the few I actually enjoyed playing with. Most just let themselves and their game get bogged down with rules and stuff.

It was a Genesis and SNES game, and apparently the two versions are dramatically different.

10543

TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Not Happy With E3 2009 Media Briefing

« on: August 14, 2009, 05:16:53 PM »

The big problems have already been pointed out: having emphasis at all on the Vitality Sensor without a single game to support it; showing off New Super Mario Bros. Wii when it's not a game that shows well on stage like that; no Zelda Wii at the Press Conference whatsoever; etc.  My big problem with the conference is that this is supposed to be the herald for what's coming the rest of the year (as well as driving up hype for next year), but outside of the New Super Mario Bros. Wii stuff and some brief highlight reels of the rail shooters that wasn't anywhere to be found.  If this is going to be the Christmas of 3rd Parties, then substantially highlight the upcoming 3rd Party stuff (like Sony did in its press conference to great effect).  A Boy And His Blob would have played particularly well on stage (it's a Blue Ocean title!), and that game needs all the sales support it can get.  Some more coverage on Dead Space: Extraction and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories probably would have done some good as well.  We also had great-looking DS stuff like Scribblenauts they could have covered that would have played out very well on the show floor that got...nothing.

The biggest problem with the show wasn't really the games that were shown, but the games that weren't.  You watch that press conference, and you suddenly realize Nintendo has next to nothing for the Fall after a whole year of nothing prior.  They shouldn't be happy with that conference, but at least it was better than last year's embarassment.

10544

Nintendo Gaming / Re: The Conduit

« on: August 14, 2009, 05:04:19 PM »

Anyway, HVS talked about some licensed game they're doing that's inspired by Bionic commando but it looks like it's PSP, PS2 and Wii cross-platform.

I suppose that game is "inspired" by Bionic Commando in much the same way as The Conduit was "inspired" by Goldeneye/Halo and The Grinder is "inspired" by Left 4 Dead?  Good Lord, does this company have a single original idea (jury's still out on Gladiator.  I'm sure it rips something off, but I just haven't found it yet)?

Sounds like virtually every other developer out there. Seriously HVS isn't the only one that does it. It is asinine to act like they are somehow worse then others in that aspect.

Perhaps, but they just seem so much more blatant about it than most companies.

10545

Nintendo Gaming / Re: The Conduit

« on: August 14, 2009, 04:58:46 PM »

Anyway, HVS talked about some licensed game they're doing that's inspired by Bionic commando but it looks like it's PSP, PS2 and Wii cross-platform.

I suppose that game is "inspired" by Bionic Commando in much the same way as The Conduit was "inspired" by Goldeneye/Halo and The Grinder is "inspired" by Left 4 Dead?  Sheesh, does this company have a single original idea (jury's still out on Gladiator.  I'm sure it rips something off, but I just haven't found it yet)?

As the The Conduit's controls, I would have appreciated more default settings as well.  Even knowing what most of the settings did (and I'll wager most people don't), I had a lot of trouble finding a setting that worked right for me.  Even having a default at Metroid Prime 3 controls would have been a good start.

10546

General Gaming / Re: The "Game Overthinker" Thread

« on: August 13, 2009, 05:07:44 AM »

Wait, did BC REALLY use the right stick for movement? WTF??? I figured that was just a mistake.

Yeah, that was bugging me as well so I just looked it up in an FAQ.  It was just a mis-print by the OT, as the FAQ has movement labeled as left stick and camera control on the right.  I thought it was more than little wierd that he'd have that in his control diagram but not even mention it.

10547

Nintendo Gaming / Re: The Conduit

« on: August 13, 2009, 04:54:53 AM »

I don't think he really hated VC that much but he was annoyed by specific things like the getting shot at while taking your turn, the overcomplicated menus and of course the Japanese storytelling. He did say it may have sold him on turn based strategy after all.

Yeah, I guess but when I can't remember a single positive thing he had to say about that entire game it's hard to see it as anything better than sheer dislike for the game.  I know it's his shtick (and it was expected), but it just seemed especially strong in that review (I guess because it's a Japanese RPG).  Incidentally, that complaint about the enemies being able to shoot your troops while they're moving around was particularly inane in that review considering your troops can do that as well (and, in fact, it's an essential part of your defensive strategy when positiioning troops at the end of their turns).  Hell, it's one of many VC elements I wish Nintendo would just outright steal to put into Fire Emblem.

10548

Nintendo Gaming / Re: "Official" Metroid Prime Trilogy discussion thread ;)

« on: August 13, 2009, 02:06:47 AM »

That's a good idea, it might save him the trouble of running into the Pirate Homeworld elevator glitch that ruins some save files for players.

Very painful thing, when the game came out.

Huh?  I beat that game years ago, and I never ran into such a glitch or heard about one.  What, does the game randomly crash during one of the loading sequences on the Pirate Homeworld and corrupt the save file?

10549

Nintendo Gaming / Re: The Conduit

« on: August 13, 2009, 01:56:08 AM »

The Zero Punctuation review is up. While I think his "move the cursor too far" complaint is nonsense I do think that the "can't look up/down" complaint, while technically wrong, has merit: Who'd expect the maximum angle you can look up/down to be hidden behind the "vertical Wiimote sensitivity" option and why does it default to 50?

He also seems to think the Motion+ would have fixed any of those problems, which were ALL IR-related. I don't know what he's playing at.

Sounds like he needs to up the turn speed, turn on continuous turning, make his bounding box smaller, and stop being so butthurt.

And I don't understand his graphics complaints at all. Twilight Princess looks better than The Conduit? lol WHAT?

I have factual problems with Yahtzee's review as well, but his opinions generally match up with my own.  The game does look like a half-assed PS2 game, mostly because all the graphical attention seems to have been put on the weapons and character models, leaving the environments looking pretty poor (it also doesn't help that the environments are pretty poor as well).  Twilight Princess does look better than The Conduit, and it's not even a close race.  It all comes down to artistic design, which TP has and Conduit does not.  His Motion + comments were just inane, though.  It's an FPS, and since Mr. Ford isn't swinging around a sword there's no reason Motion + would have made a damn bit of difference.  His complaints about the Wiimote waggling for attacks were just silly as well, since you can map the controls as you'd like.  I could understand if he complained that he couldn't find a control setting that worked right with him, as I think the general design of the Wiimote makes assigning a working arrangement a little difficult, but complaining about the default controls as if that's all there was is more than a little disingenuous.  I'm also surprised he didn't seem to mention online play at all.  But that's Yahtzee for you.  He hated Valkyria Chronicles as well, pretty much "just because" (and he hates RPGs).  Hell, it's hard to find a game he actually likes.

10550

Nintendo Gaming / Re: "Official" Metroid Prime Trilogy discussion thread ;)

« on: August 13, 2009, 01:50:06 AM »

And this would be why I told my best friend to just stop playing Prime 3 once this collection got announced.  I knew Nintendo wouldn't allow the old Corruption saves to transfer over, and he was nowhere near beating the game at the time (he was still in the Sky World, and didn't even know he still had the Pirate Homeworld to discover).