Post by: Yoshidious on November 22, 2009, 06:14:00 PM
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/podcastArt.cfm?artid=20384
Episode 171: The Ecstasy of Headgold
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The holiday season is well and truly upon us, and RFN celebrates with a bumper-sized episode featuring guest Neal Ronaghan in place of our fearless leader, Jonathan Metts. New Super Mario Bros. Wii is top on the agenda, as Neal recounts his experiences of picking up the game early at the Nintendo World Store NYC launch event, and the Luigi-throwing, Yoshi-stealing multiplayer hijinks that followed.
The crew is not without other games to discuss, as Neal gives us the inside scoop on Tony Hawk Ride (plus his personal encounter with The Birdman himself); James takes a parting shot or three at C.O.P. The Recruit, and Jon finally gets around to that God of War III demo he's been threatening to play for a while now. New Business finally comes to a close with the joyous union of Greg and Sin & Punishment 2, featuring extended impressions of Treasure's latest action-packed magnum opus.
Listener Mail gets underway with your responses to the difficulty feature topic from Episode 167, featuring Left 4 Dead's A.I. Director, GoldenEye's 00 Agent missions, and the frustrations of single player Mario Kart. Then it's on to your questions about the curious absence of promotion for Modern Warfare: Reflex Edition on Wii, plus the first in a (probably short-lived) new series of So-Bad-It's-Good game shout-outs.
This gargantuan episode draws to a close with the belated RetroActive wrap-up for Shining Force II on Genesis. Neal, Jon, and strategy game aficionado James give us their take on Camelot's unique strategy RPG, while Jonny goes head-to-head with Vudu in a radio dramatisation of the RetroActive forum discussion thread. Continent-swallowing disasters, weird abbreviations, a talking Phoenixthis one's got it all!
We're always looking for great Listener Mail to read and discuss on the show, so please send your questions or comments! (We really love seeing your praise and feedback regarding the show itself; however, in the interest of time, we may edit your letter to be read on the podcast.) Credits:
This podcast was edited by Greg Leahy.
Music for this episode of Radio Free Nintendo is used with permission from Jason Ricci & New Blood. You can purchase their newest album, Done with the Devil, directly from the record label, Amazon.com, or iTunes, or call your local record store and ask for it!
Additional music for this episode of Radio Free Nintendo is copyrighted to Nintendo, and is included under fair use protection.
Post by: GearBoxClock on November 22, 2009, 08:51:19 PM
Post by: NWR_Lindy on November 22, 2009, 11:54:46 PM
Post by: Halbred on November 23, 2009, 12:09:26 AM
Chains of Olympus actually takes place BEFORE the events of GoW1. GoW2 and GoW3 are tied together, much as Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revoluations are. Knowledge of the events of GoW2 are necessary to understand what's going on in GoW3.
Great podcast so far. Obviously, I've only gotten this far in it.
Post by: ShyGuy on November 23, 2009, 12:26:23 AM
Post by: broodwars on November 23, 2009, 12:30:52 AM
What was the name of the lousy golf game James reviewed? Ace of Holes or some such thing?
King of Clubs
Post by: NWR_Lindy on November 23, 2009, 12:49:27 AM
Post by: AV on November 23, 2009, 01:45:47 AM
outside of that boring last piece everything is great. Spam of the week was excellent, mario discussion was awesome.
Post by: Jonnyboy117 on November 23, 2009, 07:10:04 AM
Post by: Halbred on November 23, 2009, 01:10:20 PM
Post by: NWR_DrewMG on November 23, 2009, 02:12:50 PM
Post by: Crimm on November 23, 2009, 03:42:57 PM
Post by: GearBoxClock on November 23, 2009, 03:48:06 PM
But the dungeon crawl genre is hard to get right. And can be boring/frustrating.
Post by: NWR_Neal on November 23, 2009, 04:16:06 PM
Mystery Dungeon wasn't that horrible...
But the dungeon crawl genre is hard to get right. And can be boring/frustrating.
You're entitled to your opinion, but I believe Mystery Dungeon games to be horrible.
Dungeon crawl games are ok when the dungeons weren't made by Satan/a computer.
Post by: Halbred on November 23, 2009, 04:25:17 PM
Post by: kraken613 on November 23, 2009, 06:02:50 PM
Post by: shammack on November 23, 2009, 11:47:01 PM
Post by: Stratos on November 24, 2009, 01:23:09 AM
Post by: Yoshidious on November 24, 2009, 03:14:47 AM
Why is TYP attributed with writing the NSMB Wii review when Pap wrote it?
Because we have more than one NSMB Wii review, and Pap's had not yet been written at the time of recording.
TYP's review: http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewArt.cfm?artid=20368
Post by: Stratos on November 24, 2009, 04:01:43 AM
Post by: KDR_11k on November 24, 2009, 04:20:56 AM
Mystery Dungeon wasn't that horrible...
But the dungeon crawl genre is hard to get right. And can be boring/frustrating.
You're entitled to your opinion, but I believe Mystery Dungeon games to be horrible.
Dungeon crawl games are ok when the dungeons weren't made by Satan/a computer.
Random generation works as long as it's a good system, Diablo did it well (and so did Torchlight and to some extend Hellgate) and I believe the Roguelikes don't get many complaints either, it's just the japanese games that are terrible in that department.
Post by: NWR_Lindy on November 24, 2009, 10:49:28 AM
Post by: Crimm on November 24, 2009, 11:47:37 AM
And I have one correction, it isn't that we don't like them it is that they are at their very core flawed. There is no unique challenge, rather you are simply asked to do the same thing an obscene number of times in order to simulate what a challenge should feel like. It isn't that we don't like them; it is that they are not objectively fun.
It is that reason that they are not valid for either the discussion of challenge or the "so bad its good" construct.
There is no valid expression of challenge, much of the outcome is determined by how lucky you were when the floor was generated. Any designed difficulty is merely a product of you being on floor fifty-three out of seventy. Attrition can be a valid way of creating difficulty, but there needs to be mechanisms in place to allow me to mitigate its effects via my own skill.
And they aren't outwardly terrible games, they are mind-numbingly and soul crushing repetitive. There is nothing you could point to, while playing, and say that it is comical. At best you can take an outward view of the experience and find some situational humor.
Post by: KDR_11k on November 24, 2009, 12:33:08 PM
Post by: shammack on November 24, 2009, 06:24:52 PM
it is that they are not objectively fun.
This is an absurd statement to make about any game. Obviously there are people who have fun playing Mystery Dungeon games, myself included. I have no problem with you disliking them (though I am pretty tired of hearing about it at this point), but I do have a problem with the implication that I'm somehow objectively wrong for deriving enjoyment from them despite the fact that fun is an inherently subjective concept.
Post by: NWR_Lindy on November 25, 2009, 10:37:51 AM
Post by: shammack on November 25, 2009, 02:16:45 PM
Post by: shammack on November 25, 2009, 02:44:39 PM
Post by: Plugabugz on November 25, 2009, 04:09:07 PM
You are objectively wrong. Next question.
Sure! Why haven't you acknowledged that NWR is the home of buttered camels yet? It's been a year and even google confirmed it.
Post by: jrlibrarian on November 25, 2009, 10:39:51 PM
Post by: vudu on November 29, 2009, 04:11:33 PM
Regarding AI-controlled Peter and his movement: His level of aggressiveness isn't random as was speculated on the show. I actually touched on this a bit in the discussion thread.
Oh, if an enemy enters his attack range he'll kill it mercilessly. But that never seems to happen because if there's nothing he can attack immediately he only moves a square or two instead of to the end or his range. It seems the CPU is unwilling to put Peter into an enemy's attack range unless he's attacking another enemy. I suppose it's for the best because it would be rather infuriating if Peter kept dying because the CPU was too aggressive.
It's the same way with the enemy characters, which is why each battle is composed of several skirmishes instead of one giant battle. For the most part enemies won't enter your attack range unless they can attack you first. They'll hang back on the battle field until you wander within their movement range. Since there's no incentive to beat battles in a limited number of turns it's possible to game the system by moving all your characters just outside of their range and then luring them to slaughter with one strong character.
