Messages

51

Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive #23: Wario Land 4 (Official Discussion)

« on: August 15, 2012, 10:10:10 AM »

-deleted this post because I thought it might come across as flame-y I don't want to do that -

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive #23: Wario Land 4 (Official Discussion)

« on: August 15, 2012, 10:08:04 AM »

You are taking one sentence from my argument out of context and then offering comparisons that aren't similar on a lot of important levels.


Where does Wario Land 4 make you burn random bushes? Almost nothing in the game is just randomly hidden - level design and graphical hints give away virtually all of the secrets for anyone who pays attention. (The rest of the secrets should be found through normal exploration - part of the Wario Land series from day 1.)


Not paying attention to (or at least remembering) then controls in a simple 2D platformer, refusing to check the manual or replay the mandatory in-game tutorial, and then blaming the game for not introducing certain moves doesn't really compare to having extremely difficult or broken controls.


I never said the game was perfect, and am not trying to dismiss all criticism of it. But some of the complaints posted here aren't very meaningful and sound like people came in with expectations instead of just trying to experience the game.

You are completely missing the point. If people don't like some aspect of a game, they don't like it. If they are forgetting a mechanic, it may be that the designers didn't use it often enough or didn't include necessary reminders. Or maybe not. But OPINION is not something that can be argued on factual grounds. And if a majority of peoples' OPINIONS are that some aspect of a game is frustrating or not fun, THAT is what makes bad game design. I am not saying that Warioware 4 has bad game design, but it is certainly not the case that peoples' arguments about frustrating elements of the game are their fault. They just find those elements frustrating.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive #23: Wario Land 4 (Official Discussion)

« on: August 14, 2012, 09:04:14 PM »

Wario Land 4 isn't a perfect game but a lot of the complaints here seem to fall into "lazy gamer" categories than "poor design".

No. Just...no. There's a reason why Zelda games don't make you burn random bushes to find dungeons anymore, homie.


And have we learned nothing from the Lair fiasco?


If a lot of people complain about some aspect of a game, they didn't like it. It's sort of the whole point of giving your opinion. It's not "playing the game wrong".

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive #23: Wario Land 4 (Official Discussion)

« on: August 01, 2012, 04:43:11 PM »

I have to say, even though I complained about this game a little bit already...it's kind of growing on me. I am starting to "get" the controls a bit more, so the bosses are less frustrating. Plus, as soon as you submit to the fact that the first attempt (or two) at a boss is a throw-away in order to learn the pattern, it becomes less irritating. I still feel like the levels ask a little too much in the way of memorization, but given the small number of them, the hidden items, and the score targets, there actually is a little bit of an incentive to get to know the levels intimately.


All that said, I probably will only do enough to complete the game.  As others have pointed out, the CD collection is dumb, and I am not so sure I care much about high scores at this point in my life.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive #23: Wario Land 4 (Official Discussion)

« on: July 27, 2012, 08:45:36 AM »

Playing my first boss fight and I am starting to notice problems with the gameplay. I am on the floating teddybear boss and it is kind of frustrating how small the hit boxes are considering how large Wario is, the tight spaces you must navigate to hit the boss, and how inexact the physics feel at times. I feel like I am not really "getting" the feel of attacking with Wario and it is preventing me from having fun. The challenge isn't "me vs. boss", it's "me vs. controls", and that is never, ever fun.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive #23: Wario Land 4 (Official Discussion)

« on: July 25, 2012, 12:57:01 PM »

I know I'm sounding like a broken record at this point, but I STILL can't see why people voted for this as the RetroActive game.

Well look, 20, 30, 40+ hour strategy RPGs are horrible for Retroactive...it is damn refreshing to have one that my job-and-social-life-having ass can actually participate in!

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive #23: Wario Land 4 (Official Discussion)

« on: July 25, 2012, 12:52:57 PM »

That's the Sonic part of the levels. They play better than Sonic since Wario doesn't quite move as fast therefore even on your first playthrough you have time to respond. The problem I always had with Sonic games was that he was too fast for his own good. Sure it's pretty badass to zip through a level like a motherfucker, but you pretty much had to know the level off by heart and it really detracts from the enjoyment when you have to crawl your way through a level.

Came here to second this. The game feels a lot like a Sonic game in a weird way. Like the levels just have too much stuff while at the same time moving you through a little too quickly. It makes me feel like I am either missing a lot of the level, or spending too much time memorizing level layouts.


That said, I think the mechanics of this game are very solid, and the frantic run back to the start can be a lot of fun. I like better platforming physics out of my platformers, but this is a pretty fun puzzle-y platformer.

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TalkBack / Re: New Super Mario Bros. U Impressions

« on: June 06, 2012, 08:52:41 PM »

It'll probably be a fun platformer but new power-ups just aren't enough any more. This will probably be considered blasphemous by some, but at this point I'd like Nintendo to change the mechanics of the game, and make Mario feel different in the way he controls.

But that's sort of exactly what new powerups do...

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

« on: January 20, 2012, 07:59:24 PM »

That may be, but there's 2 problems with thinking about this game in those terms:  First, I don't remember a splash screen or anything in the manual that said "the point of this game is that everything you do has long term consequences" and second, games that embrace that philosophy tend not to be fun, especially for people new to the genre.  It's like permanent death, and that is a horrible gameplay idea.

Well said.


Another thing to realize, folks, is that a lot of people who like to play games have jobs and other responsibilities that make the mechanics of a game like FE really prohibitive. Skyrim (and many other PC-style RPGs) is a super long RPG. but it lets you save literally at any time.  So I can play for 30 minutes and get something done, even for a quest that is long.  I can make several saves so I dont have to go way back in the game in order to fix a mistake I made.  FE gives you one suspend state and doesn't let you make multiple saves during a fight. This means if you are not skilled/experienced in the game, you are going to be wasting a lot of time.


Yes, I know a lot of these issues have to do with the age of the game, but I don't have to pretend I live in the past in order to decide whether the game is for me.  FE isn't for me, I just don't have the time or the patience.  There are games out there that our more suited to my lifestyle and patience-level.

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

« on: January 20, 2012, 10:40:13 AM »

Well I started this game and got to the first Fog of War map and pretty much abandoned it.  After three restarts trying to not lose a good character (after already losing one), I decided I'd much rather spend my time on Skyrim sidequest 109 than Fire Emblem.  It's just too unforgiving.  A game can be challenging without being soul-crushingly cruel. I love my 3DS, I don't feel like throwing it out the window.


The sad thing is, this game is so close to being great.  What would make it better?


1) The ability to create more saves than 3, and at any time during a battle.


2) The ability to revive lost characters. You don't have to make it cheap, just possible.


3) More opportunities for/more interesting grinding.


Pretty much any two of those things would completely save the game without taking away the challenge. No, making a game punishing does not make a game more challenging. Running a sub 5-minute mile is challenging. It wouldn't be any more challenging if you got shot in the head at the end if you run it in 5:01.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive #21 Poll: GBA Ambassador Edition

« on: January 12, 2012, 08:39:10 AM »

Yeah, please don't vote for Fire Emblem, people.  I have a demanding job! 

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive #21 Poll: GBA Ambassador Edition

« on: January 11, 2012, 08:20:57 AM »

Face it, it's going to be Warioland 4, muwahahahahaha.


Well, one way or the other, I finally have the damn game that is going to be played!

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive #21 Poll: GBA Ambassador Edition

« on: December 31, 2011, 09:42:08 AM »

My vote is for Warioland 4.  This will be my first Warioland game, and I am looking forward to playing through what seems to be a fairly challenging game (at least from the first few levels I've tried).

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Nintendo Gaming / Re: The Official 3DS System Friend Code Thread

« on: August 13, 2011, 10:26:33 PM »

Mii: Dave
Friend Code: 3265 - 5215 - 4945

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Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 244: Party of Five

« on: May 22, 2011, 05:48:35 PM »

Looking forward to finishing Co-op with you, Jonny!


Regarding the developer commentary in Portal 2: I love it but it is just too sparse.  There are a couple of instances of only one or two points in a fairly large area, and there are no saves allowed in commentary mode.  So you really need to have a good chunk of time set aside for what amounts to a modest amount of commentary.  The stuff that is there is great, though.

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TalkBack / Re: The Best 30 DS Games

« on: May 05, 2011, 10:53:19 AM »

My Top 10 (in no order, because that's hard and I don't have to)


Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes
New Super Mario Brothers
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
Picross 3D
The World Ends With You
Bowser's Inside Story
Spirit Tracks
Chinatown Wars
Phantom Hourglass
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow


Honorable Mentions:
Disgaia
FF4
M & L: Partners in Time
Advance Wars: Dual Strike
Super Scribblenauts


Games that everybody else loves but I dislike:
Professor Layton games (Poking around the screen and scrolling through dialog broken up by the occasional puzzle)
Phoenix Wright games (see above but without the puzzles)
Pokemon games (I played all the way through Platinum and never once felt like I was having fun)
Dragon Warrior games (I am generally not a fan of JRPGs though)
Henry Hatsworth (Not-good-enough platforming combined with too-basic puzzling)

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Podcast Discussion / Re: RFN Live Panel @ PAX East 2011

« on: March 14, 2011, 10:45:20 AM »

I thought the panel was a lot of fun!  I agree that the live radio trivia portion was slightly chaotic (people weren't sure whether to shout out the answer, cut in front of a questioner at the mic to give the answer, wait for the panel to finish answering a question, etc) but it seemed to work out fine.


I brought my gf Julia with me to the panel.  It was her first ever video game podcast and she got to see it live!  I am so glad I took her to see you guys first, because she had a blast (especially at lunch afterward) and now wants to listen to RFN!  We also went to the IGN podcast, but she was totally bored at that one, considering they focused almost exclusively on in-jokes that even I did not get some of the time.


For anyone that hasn't had the opportunity to meet the NWR crew, they are a very cool group of people who are as interesting and fun as you might expect.  It was also great to have the chance to chat with some fellow listeners after the panel.  It was these kinds of experiences that really made the weekend great. This was my first PAX, but now I am convinced me that I need to make this a yearly trip

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General Chat / Re: PAX East meetup thread

« on: March 07, 2011, 11:22:59 PM »

Getting really psyched up for this.  Anyone else going to the IGN meet and greet for free booze?

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General Chat / Re: PAX East meetup thread

« on: February 11, 2011, 12:53:13 PM »

Well my gf and I will be there

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General Chat / Re: PAX East meetup thread

« on: January 25, 2011, 11:24:51 AM »

Well I did get tix last week so now I am 100% for PAX East and 100% for the NWR panel!

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General Chat / PAX East meetup thread

« on: January 11, 2011, 11:11:52 AM »

Anyone going to PAX East?  I am about 95% right now and thought it might be fun to get a NWR meet-up thread going...

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General Gaming / Re: PS3 Friend Tags

« on: January 09, 2011, 08:06:28 PM »

syn4aptik


 

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TalkBack / Re: Fluidity Impressions

« on: December 13, 2010, 12:20:59 AM »

I, too, have been playing Fluidity.  This game, combined with And Yet It Moves (which I just won from the Child's Play Show!), have been keeping me very busy.  I haven't played a 2-D platformer with such inventive mechanics in years, and that includes New Super Mario Bros Wii.  Fantastic games.


I must say, both games have me hankering for Achievements/Trophies on Wii.


By the way Killer_Man_Jaro, good call on the Metroid-vania reference.  I hadn't noticed that Fluidity is doing that, but it totally is.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 221: Prelude to Epicness

« on: December 01, 2010, 05:45:29 PM »

FIRST POST!  Hey guys, I love the podcast and this episode inspired me to 1) finally create a user account for the site and 2) make a donation to Child's Play.  I hope you can reach your goal.  I will be letting my friend's know they should donate

I played TWEWY a long time ago and admit that I forgot a lot of details about the game.  But I just wanted to say a few things.  First, I love the music! Yeah, it is weird J-pop, but I really like the quirkiness and the quality of the compression is fantastic for a DS game...so much so that I was blown away when I first heard it.  Second, I really got into the pin-collecting and combat.  It is tricky (I think patting your head and rubbing your stomach is a good analogy), but once you get the hang of it, it is addictive.  Did you mention that certain pin sets give you special attacks and bonuses?  I really liked that aspect of the battle system.  Finally, don't get too hung up on the stereotypical characters just yet.  The plot gets surprisingly clever for a JRPG without being "too" clever (JRPG veterans will know what I mean by that), and the characters do mellow out a bit and grow on you.