An RFN co-founder returns to the show, and we talk about all the crazy games at PAX East.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/25753
It's been a very long time since RFN co-founder Evan Burchfield appeared on the show, and now he's back at Jonny's side to talk about games. But first, we have a brief post-mortem on last week's PAX East panel, plus an overview of everything we played at the convention, including 3DS demos, Ikaruga, Rock Band 3 (with the Squier guitar), Rare's NES offerings, ice hockey on Sega CD, and an obscure NES game called Xexyz.
In New Business proper, we catch up with Greg's exploits in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (Wii version) and its spiritual predecessor, Zelda 3. Yes, I said Zelda 3, deal with it! Jon shows us his Pokemans, while James takes a big dump on Ubisoft's RUSE. Evan reports on all kinds of hallucinatory games such as Muscle March, Noby Noby Boy, and 3D Dot Game Heroes. Jonny brings it home with Dead Space 2, which owes more inspiration to Nintendo games than you might expect.
Your Listener Mail questions start by asking how to acquire that belle of the DS ball, Radiant Historia. We also discuss impulse purchases, the clickiness of 3DS buttons, and the best games to play with kids.
Aonuma stated that he sucked at fighting in Zelda, he couldn't even beat the Octorocks in the original LoZ, that's why he changed Zelda to be all about puzzles and changed items from power upgrades into glorified keys. The old Zeldas were much more about combat, recent Zeldas have been way too easy on the combat side while overcomplicating it.
On the topic of dungeon designs post-Ocarina of Time, I will defend Twilight Princess to the end of the world in that regard. Say what you will about the similar structure and story conceit, this, that, and the other, but the temples are really wonderful. The Lakebed Temple remains one of my favourites in the series - it was an incredible moment when the core puzzle of directing the flow of water suddenly clicked with me. Several new items for the franchise too, which didn't happen so much with Majora's Mask or Wind Waker. I agree with the argument that the bosses do take the 'Rule of Three' a bit far, but hey, at least they're spectacles.
They were planning to record something with Karl subbing for someone else, but I don't know if it ever happened.We recorded. It should be coming soon.
Alundra is much better than Landstalker. Still not as good as A Link to the Past.
It's not like ALttP didn't have puzzles of its own, though. Having to use the cape or the cane that protected you to cross spikes or using the Cane of Somaria in Turtle Rock, for example, or figuring out how to get to the Misery Mire by travelling in/out of the dark world, then using a specific spell a la Zelda 2.As I said during this episode, ALttP has some very memorable "Eureka!" moments in it (the example I referenced was bombing to create the shaft of light into the empty boss room in the Thieves' Town dungeon, which then reveals the boss when you take the prisoner girl into the light). However, the puzzles are not the "bread-and-butter" of the dungeons as they are in later Zelda games, and a good number of them seem rather straightforward now (like the time-limited ones you describe above). Remember, this discussion is all in relative--not absolute--terms, comparing Zelda games to one another.
Most of these were more "figure out how to do it then do it before the time runs out" sort of puzzles, like lighting all the candles at the same time.
I don't think Skyward Sword will necessarily abandon the "dungeon item being required to beat the dungeon" structure, but I do think (more hope) that the line between dungeon and overworld will make it seem less obvious and structured. Think the dark forest in ALttP.
I see what you're saying. And yes, little quibbles like where you restart would have to be fixed in Skyward Sword if they want something like that to work. It should be a trivial matter.It's not like ALttP didn't have puzzles of its own, though. Having to use the cape or the cane that protected you to cross spikes or using the Cane of Somaria in Turtle Rock, for example, or figuring out how to get to the Misery Mire by travelling in/out of the dark world, then using a specific spell a la Zelda 2.As I said during this episode, ALttP has some very memorable "Eureka!" moments in it (the example I referenced was bombing to create the shaft of light into the empty boss room in the Thieves' Town dungeon, which then reveals the boss when you take the prisoner girl into the light). However, the puzzles are not the "bread-and-butter" of the dungeons as they are in later Zelda games, and a good number of them seem rather straightforward now (like the time-limited ones you describe above). Remember, this discussion is all in relative--not absolute--terms, comparing Zelda games to one another.
Most of these were more "figure out how to do it then do it before the time runs out" sort of puzzles, like lighting all the candles at the same time.
I don't think Skyward Sword will necessarily abandon the "dungeon item being required to beat the dungeon" structure, but I do think (more hope) that the line between dungeon and overworld will make it seem less obvious and structured. Think the dark forest in ALttP.
The dark forest is an interesting example as the overworld in that case is almost part of the dungeon itself, as it contains several entry points and you have to travel between dungeon and overworld to make it through successfully. The only problem with this in ALttP is: if you die inside the dungeon you restart at an entrance, whereas if you die outside you appear atop the Golden Pyramid and have to make your way back to the forest; that discrepancy would probably need to be addressed if a similar approach were employed to dungeons in Skyward Sword.
To anybody who likes the different brand of puzzle solving from A Link to the Past, there's been one after Ocarina of Time to follow that mould, which is Four Swords Adventures. Obviously, because it was clearly adhering to ALttP in several ways, that's no surprise, but it's probably a game that many people missed. There are a lot of puzzles based on the formations of the four Links, and very few item-based puzzles, as you can only hold one at a time, and they are taken away at the end of every level.Yes. Every Zelda fan should play this game. I played it in single-player and even then it was fantastic.
