Messages

426

TalkBack / Re: North American E3 Sale Now Live

« on: June 15, 2016, 07:36:43 AM »

Very nice. Today is payday too. I have some Zelda games I need to play before MM, but will be getting to it eventually, so I'm picking that up. I was disappointed when the award coupon for this game went away, but this is better. SMTIV is another I was going to eventually get, but I'll pick it up now.

I was going to pick up SOS last week, but when they announced the new game, I figured I'd wait to see if this went on sale, so that worked out well. Zero Escape sounds interesting from what I've read on this site, and I dug the trailer for Terraris. I checked the demo out for PXZ2, and it seems like enough ridiculous fun to justify $20. I see Dementium remastered is also on sale, and that game seems worth picking up too. Great sale!

427

General Chat / Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!

« on: June 12, 2016, 06:15:40 PM »

I misread the remaining games and didnt realize Equador could still plausibly qualify. It's going to be a tough opponent regardless.

Thursday should be great. I'm going to DVR Wales-England and make it a double header. I would have watched the Germany-Poland game too, but I don't think I can also get that in between work and the US kick.

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General Chat / Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!

« on: June 12, 2016, 09:01:20 AM »

Wow, what a difference a week makes. I can't believe the US was able to overcome the goal differential and Costa Rica got the win. The Brazil-Colombia game was one of the best of the last World Cup, so that's a crazy QF matchup assuming Brazil wins today. I am definitely not taking Peru for granted (I admittedly don't know much about them other than Pizzaro) but this conceivably sets up US-ARG, MEX-BRA semis.

I also think it was very important that it was a CONCACAF team knocking off Colombia that made the difference. If the US "stole" the group just by making up the goal differential through trouncing another CONCACAF team, I think there would have been some grumblings. MLS has really been a boom to CONCACAF even if it isn't necessarily (yet) providing the upper elechon competition the US and Mexico needs.

429

TalkBack / Re: Nintendo World Report E3 Streaming Schedule

« on: June 10, 2016, 10:41:16 PM »

Great. I'm looking more forward to this coverage than the actual event.

430

General Gaming / Re: What are you playing?

« on: June 10, 2016, 07:40:45 AM »

For anyone who likes old-school gaming, and who are gluttons for punishment, Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins (PSP) is awesome.


One nice part is that it works well as a portable because you can save between levels and it's got a generous continue system. That doesn't remove the cheap moments that are a series staple, but makes steady progress much easier.


Really enjoying this.

I love this series the way some people love Mega Man. I hope Capcom's spring investor disclosure regarding utilizing more old IP means that more of the games will be ported to the 3DS. I'd love to play this.

431

General Chat / Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!

« on: June 10, 2016, 07:22:40 AM »

Looking forward to the Euros starting today. I actually preferred this tournament slightly to the World Cup before it expanded. The field is still deep, but nearly half of group stage games used to be knock-out quality. Still an outstanding tournament though. It's hard for me to see anyone but France, Germany, or Belgium winning. Spain has the talent but looks in poor form, and is affected by the deep champions league runs their players make every year. England looked great in qualifying, less so now, and I don't have faith in Hodgson. I can see Portugal and Croatia being competitive, but they don't have nearly the depth of those other teams. I'm not sure what to make of Italy because I don't follow Seire A and they are in a period of transition. The majority of Juve's stars are not Italian.

Edit: I've been second guessing myself about Spain all morning. That roster is just so good. But there is some crazy news breaking abut De Gea being linked to sexual assaults. Casillas seems a big liability.

432

Nintendo Gaming / Re: E3 2016 thread. Predictions. News

« on: June 08, 2016, 06:35:58 PM »

I'm hoping for some new 3DS game announcements. Of the releases already publicized, I'm looking forward to learning more about Corpse Party and hope we get a firm release date for Dragon Quest VII (and more information about DQVIII).  I'm also interested in River City, Story of Seasons, and Pokemon, so there should be a decent amount of stuff for me.

433

TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Announces E3 eShop Sale, Miitomo Zelda Promotion

« on: June 08, 2016, 06:13:20 PM »

Very nice.  I hope to crush this. Saw a decent number of titles on the Japanese and European lists that I would buy.

434

General Chat / Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!

« on: June 08, 2016, 07:51:12 AM »

Great game to be at, that's cool. I haven't seen them live since Tony Meola was in goal, lol. This isn't the same Costa Rica team that did so well in the last World Cup, but this is still the best I can remember seeing the USMNT play since 2013. Assuming everything goes as expected, the Brazil game should tell us a lot about where they are. Every time I lose faith in Klinsmann, they seem to go on a little run.

Man, I love watching James Rodriguez play. He was doing well under Ancelloti until he got hurt, and hasn't really replicated that form at club level since (to the point where he can barely get a run out). It's obstensibly because of his defense, but he seemed to me to be working his ass off towards the end of the La Liga season. I'd love if Zidane could find a way to get him on the field playing like he does for Columbia, but I think he is going to be sold.

435

General Chat / Re: Soccer Discussion: Fast kickin', low scorin', and ties!

« on: June 07, 2016, 06:50:29 PM »

I saw that too. It would be fantastic. The Uruguayan FA president is already making noises that it favors Mexico to the detriment of the SA teams, but obviously everyone can make a whole lot more money with the US and Mexico involved. I wonder how the SA fans would feel. I imagine it's more expensive to travel to and in the US, but it's probably more convenient.

436

General Chat / Re: What are you hyped about today?

« on: May 27, 2016, 05:48:38 PM »

As a Knicks fan, I used to get annoyed by how many foreign Bulls fans I'd have to take **** from when I traveled overseas. But just like Michael Jordan created a whole bunch of basketball fans, Zinedine Zidane in the '98 WC and '00 Euros showed me how exciting association football could be. I am so hype for the Champions League final tomorrow.

437

General Gaming / Re: Was Super Mario All Stars the first Remaster?

« on: May 26, 2016, 02:56:10 PM »

I definitely agree that they were presented as sequels, but I think they might conceptually fit better as remasters, and I didn’t want to rely too heavily on the marketing semantics.  I agree that the music and movie examples show why the gaming analogue is a bit murky.  With those mediums it’s really about enhancing the sensual experience of the consumer using the same base line content.  Games usually add content, sometimes significant amounts.  I think the differences between Space Invaders/Deluxe Space Invaders, Pac Man/Pac Man Plus, Breakout/Super Breakout are relatively minimal from a core content perspective, but I’d need to explore Super Mario Brothers Deluxe (and quite frankly, play those cabinets again) to really do a comparison. I don't feel strongly one way or the other, but I wanted to offer earlier alternatives for the OP to consider.

438

General Gaming / Re: Was Super Mario All Stars the first Remaster?

« on: May 25, 2016, 09:17:49 PM »

After refreshing my memory online, I think the early arcade games in the Space Invaders, Breakout, and Pac Man lineages have a decent claim of qualifying as remasters on technical and gameplay grounds, but I'm not familiar with Super Mario All Stars so I can't make a comparison with that. I'm going to pick that up now that I know what it is. I bought all the Mario NES 3DS ports, but I've only actually played MB, SMB and a little of SMB2. The business models are obviously different, so I don't think arcade games could satisfy a "definitiveness" test.

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General Gaming / Re: Was Super Mario All Stars the first Remaster?

« on: May 24, 2016, 08:01:31 PM »

Were you just considering home gaming? Depending on how you define remaster, you might include earlier cabinet iterations like Pac-Man, Pac-Man Plus, and Super Pac-Man. I think Asteroids and Space Invaders also had multiple versions, including enhanced graphics with the latter. There were also the disc based games like Dragon's Lair which I also think had subsequent versions with crisper sound and visuals. Also interesting to consider when comparing arcade games is whether changes to the cabinet itself constitute remasters. I know I would pay the extra quarter to play the sit-down version of Star Wars and the Tron cabinet you could step into was more immersive than the traditional cabinet.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 477: This Particular Breed of Funk

« on: May 24, 2016, 08:08:42 AM »

Retire the badge arcade bunny. I'd go with Leif or Kicks from New Leaf for a far more defcaffinated experience.

441

General Gaming / Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?

« on: May 23, 2016, 04:46:14 PM »

 I finished my Castlevania play through this weekend and was going to write it up, but as the credits were rolling, I realized that I had beaten it already.  It was another classic title I played a lot but didn’t own and I didn’t have a memory of getting past the Grim Reaper.  Outside of when you are using the stairs, it’s a fabulous game.  Still very hard, but not as torturous as GnG.  The visual design of the stages and the music are the highlights for me.

442

General Gaming / Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?

« on: May 21, 2016, 07:25:12 AM »

Fire Emblem - Awakening

I completed this game a month or so ago on Normal Casual, resetting when a character died unless it was really unlucky. I was trying to avoid power gaming, so I didn't read anything on character builds, or even much on mechanics. After it was over, I did a bit of research and began to replay it.  I had planned on writing about that play through since I still have to play a significant portion of the game (I didn't realize the paralouges needed to be unlocked by marriages). But I feel burned out after getting most of them opened and Galeforce queued. I kind of want to take a long break and switch to the 2016 games, but I have about six chapters of unseen paralouge content left, and all the DLC unpurchased.

I really enjoyed this game. It's beautiful, while still rough around the edges in places, and ridiculous, while still being compelling. I think the music is fabulous, the map design visually clever, and I love the 2D art and anime clips.
 
The gameplay is fun and interesting, and as a newcomer, I appreciate that the systems have apparently been simplified. I actually ended up not paying attention to most of it and just relied on the hit percentages and obvious strengths/weaknesses to plan tactics, which was somewhat liberating. The story and characters are obviously cliche at times, but I still found it engrossing, and enjoyed my time with the characters. The main story is compelling enough, and the anime clips enhance it immensely. The collatoral dialouge is frequently amusing. The avatar 2D art is outstanding.

I did feel a tension between getting the most out of relationships and enjoying the battles. The battles are more fun if they are harder, but it's tedious to build relationships if you have to keep resetting, and opening up dialogue trees often conflicted with preferred battle orders. It sounds like the Birthright/Conquest split will address this for me.

I had originally bought the 3DS as a retro machine, but this game has really piqued my interest in contemporary titles.

443

General Gaming / Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?

« on: May 20, 2016, 04:19:30 PM »

Interesting. There is an item that turns you into a frog in the NES version. I had memories of the same thing in the arcade, but after looking it up online, I see that you had to do a specific set of actions to get an angel appear who could turn you into a frog. It's coming back to me now. There was also a way in the arcade version to continue to use your weapons as a frog, but in the NES version you can't as far as I know. I just jump over the items.

444

General Gaming / Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?

« on: May 20, 2016, 03:57:25 PM »

Were you saying the Wii or NES version was the troll-ier? I definitely think the arcade is easiest just based on the fact that I was able to clear level 2 as a kid on a couple quarters. I played the Wii version at a friends house and it was really difficult, but that was a long time ago and we were partying pretty hard while we were playing so I'm not sure how it compares with the 3DS. I had actually picked up a Capcom collection for a PS2 I got second hand a few years ago just to play GnG, but the music was recreated so poorly I never bothered playing since that is one of the game's chief attractions for me.

445

General Gaming / Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?

« on: May 20, 2016, 02:51:07 PM »

Ghosts n’ Goblins - 3DS
 
I originally fell in love with this game in the arcade. The music and sound effects are probably its most enduring hook, but I am also a huge fan of the demonic motif's pulpy art style.

The dark theme, art design, great musical score, interesting enemy design, and diverse progression of stage settings, gives the game narrative depth, and the scrolling pre-turn menu animation adds a sense of expanse.  The gameplay itself is punishing, capricious, and attritional, which strangely adds to the scope. Progress feels earned and takes time, which makes the world feel bigger. Trojan, another Capcom title I love, and a contemporary, is probably similar in length if measured by size of setting. But since it can be beat it in 15 minutes on one life, its world seems smaller.

As a kid, I completed stage 2 in the arcade, and stage 5 on the NES, but I never owned a copy (edit- except for the caveat below)  until now. I won't say I beat it because I used in-stage saves to complete it. I prefer playing it in 10 minute intervals. It would probably take me hours of continuous play to clear stages 3 and 6.

One of my all-time favorite games; I'll play it perpetually as long as I have the 3DS.

446

TalkBack / Re: Humble Friends Of Nintendo Bundle Adds Three More Games

« on: May 04, 2016, 12:04:36 AM »

I don't have a Wii U, or know anyone who does, so PM me if you are interested.

447

TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Downloads – April 28, 2016

« on: April 28, 2016, 02:56:15 PM »

Thanks, that's helpful.  From the enthusiasm on this thread, sounds like I should just get it. I wanted to start playing it pretty badly a week or two ago, but was feeling guilty because I just dropped a decent amount of cash on some other games. I was looking for an excuse to justify putting it to the front of the queue, lol. I'll probably pick it up tomorrow for the weekend.

448

TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Downloads – April 28, 2016

« on: April 28, 2016, 01:00:40 PM »

Ejamer: I'm a casual consumer and didn't realize they were different enough to justify such a large price difference between systems.  I guess it makes sense when I think it through, but I'm not clear on the differences between ports, remakes, etc. I certainly won't be annoyed as a consumer if the price differential is really related to costs, but I might be if it were related to recouping arbitrary projections.

449

TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Downloads – April 28, 2016

« on: April 28, 2016, 10:44:03 AM »

No price drop for xenoblade on 3DS?  Can I expect one soon?

450

TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Divesting Large Portion Of Seattle Mariners Ownership

« on: April 27, 2016, 10:12:47 PM »

That was a great team with Randy Johnson, Edgar Martínez, Jay Buhner, and then Arod, not to mention Lou Panella as manager.  Martinez had a walk off double to beat the Yankees in the ALDS and the legislature then put up public money for the stadium after it had been voted down in a referendum, lol.