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Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive 51: Kirby and the Rainbow Curse

« on: December 10, 2022, 12:58:46 PM »

Last minute post! I’ve just been playing the Wii U game. Only made it to level 6 so far.

There are a lot of ideas here that seem cool, but overall I’m not finding the game very engaging. The gameplay seems to shift between too slow/easy and too fast/hard, and doesn’t often hit the sweet spot in between.

With the necessity for the touchscreen, this is 100% a handheld game. That makes it hard to go back to from Switch. The way our space at home is set up, it felt silly sitting in front the TV with the TV turned off. In the end I moved to Wii U to a different room without a TV and played there. It’s such an awkward piece of hardware, with the console, bulky game pad, and the effective need for a wall-powered external hard disk.

I’m not sure if we should celebrate that the Wii U supported a variety of types of games, or be critical that it tried to have handheld games but they were awkward. Playing Kirby is a reminder to be grateful for the magic of modern ARM-based processors and the other advances that made the Switch possible.

(I‘d say the Wii U was a better fit for games that used both screens to their own advantage, Deus Ex Human Revolution being the prime example. I miss this, but the majority of games don’t fall into this category.)

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive 49: Resident Evil: Revelaitons

« on: March 31, 2021, 06:55:44 PM »

This game is extremely impressive, although that does somewhat need qualifying as “for 3DS”. It looks better than it should be allowed to, and cranking the 3D up to “very strong” in settings adds to this. I miss 3D on Switch. It’s like peering through a little, engrossing window. Sometimes too little though: After getting used to Switch I miss being able to play on TV or handheld as I choose.

I’m playing on my 3DS XL without a Circle Pad Pro, leaving me with single circle pad aiming or gyro aiming. Gyro is fast but imprecise, and more importantly, it makes 3D impossible because moving the device shifts it out of the right spot. When I ended up doing was mostly using pad for the Jill sections, and mostly using gyro for the interstitial action sections with 3D turned off.

I could never focus when using the rifle scope with 3D on. My natural reaction was to shut one eye, which makes sense because you look through real scopes with one eye, but it means your aim is way off because the game crosshairs is positioned in the centre for both eyes. The game is trying to show you something more 3D than real life! (I usually end up shutting one eye when using binoculars in real life too.)

I picked up New Game+ from my play through in 2014, and selected Hell difficulty this time around. Mostly it’s all very enjoyable because I have weapon upgrades from the first play though to balance the difficult, but you don’t get those for the interstitial action scenes so those can be frustratingly hard. A hard game can be great when it feels precise and has a fast retry loop, but this game is cumbersome to control and loads fairly slowly. Also sometimes the checkpoints are placed just before a load of corridor walking rather than before the tricky fight where you keep dying.

I’ve neaaarly finished but it doesn’t feel as quick a game as James promised because hard mode is hard — my fault for choosing it.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive 48: Super Mario 64

« on: October 21, 2020, 04:54:37 PM »

With Super Mario 64, I’m not here to win; I’m just here to have fun.

That’s the magic to me. Collecting stars and coins is something to do, but the reward for playing is the joy of jumping and flying and riding green shells. Other 3D Mario games are similar, but the fun seems purest and simplest in 64. Interestingly, I don’t really get this feeling from 2D Mario games.

Flying in this game is basically the best thing. It’s exhilarating because it’s just the right level of out-of-control.

I’ve been playing on Switch, and this is a great portable game. Just like in Odyssey, you can drop in for even a few minutes and make concrete progress while having fun.

Quick wish list if there was ever a remake:

• Fluid camera that’s less automatic. Some of the platforming would be trivial with a good camera.
• Faster retry loop and remove the life count. Being careful isn’t fun. I much prefer running around with abandon.
• Avoid running in a little circle when changing direction from being stationary.
• Revised swimming controls. It’s no joy with tank controls.
• Longer draw distance.

But these have all been resolved in future games.  Overall it’s remarkable just how much Mario 64 did right.

(I should note I’m early in the game on this play though. Perhaps I’d weigh the negatives more strongly if I was on the more tricky levels near the end.)

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive 44: The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

« on: May 16, 2019, 01:06:53 PM »

This game is okay… but it’s just not that exciting. My interest in playing games comes and goes, and right now it’s low and Spirit Tracks isn’t helping.

I’m not a fan of the use of the word engineer to mean train operator. At least in the UK, it’s a problem for the engineering profession that people misunderstand what engineering is, which can discourage students from choosing to study engineering.

I like how the touch screen enables some nuance in sword swings, although there isn’t any use of this made that I’ve seen so far (just finished the snow temple). It’s kind of a feels like a precursor the Skyward Sword’s nuanced sword control, and there Nintendo really went all-in using that in the game.

The train also feel like a precursor to Skyward Sword in having discrete little areas that you travel between in a bland environment with minimal interactivity. In both games I think it might be more enjoyable if you just picked where you wanted to go on a map and arrived there instantly. Basically embrace the game being a series of levels. On the other hand that would mean losing tooting the horn, which is something that brings me joy. Brrooo Brroooooo.

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TalkBack / Re: 6th Annual NWR Live Podcast Telethon for Child’s Play!

« on: December 04, 2015, 05:08:46 PM »

GMT start time should presumably say 4.30, rather than 5.00.

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TalkBack / Re: GBA Wii U Virtual Console Worldwide Line-Ups Revealed

« on: March 26, 2014, 08:17:53 PM »

I don’t own any of these games (but played a few borrowed off friends). If these were on 3DS I’d buy all or most of them. It’s a great starting set.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RFN RetroActive #27 Poll: Epic Mega Man Showdown

« on: April 20, 2013, 09:32:42 AM »

I've played 2 before, but found it hard to get started with 3 a few years ago. Since 3 just came out on 3DS VC in Europe, this seems like the perfect opportunity to try it again.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive #22: MotoHeroz (WiiWare)

« on: April 24, 2012, 02:10:33 PM »

I wish I’d known about the skip feature; it’s disappointing that the feature is there but is not obvious. Sadly I’m back at University now so can’t play Wii.

From what I’m reading it sounds like this game is more accessible than Trials. But it’s still not accessible enough. MotoHeroz would be well suited to either a difficulty setting or more tiers of rewards. I think I’d get a lot more out of the game if it was easier to move on to the next stage; maybe you just get a bronze medal, or no medal at all.

I had the opportunity to try local multiplayer. I enjoyed it, but I don’t think my friends liked it much. The problem is that winning didn’t seem to depend much on skill. I love the element of chance in Smash Bros, but MotoHeroz takes it too far.

I don’t like how the game’s music mostly plays independently of what’s happening on screen, and some of the tracks don’t seem to match the mood of the game. The music misses the point of game music.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive #22: MotoHeroz (WiiWare)

« on: April 17, 2012, 09:36:28 AM »

After failing at least twenty times on Spiderwood (where you loose if the red guy hits you), I don’t feel inclined to ever touch the story mode again. The game is far too unforgiving.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive #21: Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

« on: February 01, 2012, 05:37:49 PM »

 As for whether FE or AW is better, I think that's quite subjective, so I'm not going to judge anyone for picking one over the other.

I wasn’t even suggesting that I liked one over the other, just that so far I’ve enjoyed AW battles more. You could say that in order to be competitive AW battles must be better, because it doesn’t have any other legs to stand on. FE is enjoyable at another level with its team building mechanics.

Regarding the AI, it’s purpose is to make the game fun and rewarding, not to attempt to make you lose. Of course as players we should be under the illusion that the enemy is trying to beat us. So I’m not saying the bosses should run in and slaughter weaker characters, but I think battles would be more interesting if the enemy employed more diverse strategies and wasn’t so predictable

I’m looking for more situations like noname2200’s having Neimi double-teamed, and the things leahsdad mentioned with spiders, gargoyles and fog: things I have to adapt to by revising my strategy.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive #21: Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

« on: February 01, 2012, 11:13:26 AM »

I was going to ask whether the AI gets smarter or less predictable later in the game. I guess not.

I don’t remember the Advance Wars AI being so predictable (although it’s a few years since I last played it). Also because Advance Wars doesn’t have permanent death, you can successfully adopt a wider variety of strategies (such as making sacrifices). For these reasons, I remember Advance Wars battles as being more fun and rewarding, compared to a single map in FE.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive #21: Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

« on: January 31, 2012, 07:41:46 AM »

This is my first Fire Emblem game, and I’m loving it so far. There’s no way I would have picked this up if it wasn’t for RetroActive. So glad to be taking part.

I’m not very far into the game. Each map tends to take me about an hour if I don’t restart. Is it normal to check what move every enemy can make before pushing forwards each turn, in order to make the best possible moves?

I totally agree with Da Jarvis about how great the auto-saving is. Run out of battery power, or suddenly need to stop playing? No problem: you’ll loose nothing. I wish all games worked like this. As far as I can tell, the suspend command does nothing and is just a user interface trick in case you don’t trust the auto-save.