Topic: Episode 240: They Call Him 'The Streak'

[Yoshidious]

We've got RPGs galore, plus answers to your questions about our favorite consoles and, of course, Project Cafe.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/26137

We'll have something special next week, but this episode follows the standard format and is full of everything you love about RFN. In New Business, James has full impressions of Phantom Brave, the Wii tactics game that perhaps no one fully understands. Jon has made significant progress in Chrono Trigger (no, really!) and, with his new commute by train, it looks like he will finish it soon and move on to even more role-playing goodness. Jonny got to play some Super Smash Bros. Brawl with TYP, but his main games this week are the awesome Portal 2 and Fallout: New Vegas, which he enjoys despite serious problems associated with the setting and Western RPG conventions. Greg completes the segment with a report on the El Shaddai demo (looks a bit like Killer 7, from the character designer of Okami), and he delivers the final word on Capcom's overlooked Okamiden for DS.

Since we ran out of time for Listener Mail last week, it was a great pleasure to catch up on this show with some of your excellent queries. First up is a survey on our favorite gaming systems of all time, including some controversy over whether PC is eligible. Then we launch into the cascade of Project Cafe letters, covering topics such as resolution/framerate utopia, the true meaning of development codenames, and whether GameCube could be the next Virtual Console system. Please keep those emails coming!

[Ceric]

Episode 240: Better with Jello

Pick are new Retro?

First New Business
Eskimoes have many words from Snow its how you split things. So we agree Macro is Strategy and Micro is Tactics.  Consensus Yay.

lol Ghost Cage Fighting

The Feather Duster could be Uber... Feel the Power of the Feathers.

La Pucell

It wouldn't be balanced if you could keep them.

She needs a Cinnamon Bun of Power

I'm sure someone has

That would be sadistic

Monster Rancher Tactical Battles. 

At least the battles are short

"Its a relatively upbeat game" As it grinds you into dust.

Jon New Business
I've been playing FF:IV while driving on my way to work. <.< >.>

FF:IV is well translated but when it doesn't flow its definetly due to space limitations of the text boxes.

It will drop you off to a village full of Animals and a vicious landlord.

Public transportation here wouldn't get me to work.

3rd New Business
Portal 2 been fun up to Chapter 4.

Prefer Melee over Brawl.

I like having PC as an option for when my Wife is using the TV.

Need to find some Co-op

Its a 3D First Person Puzzler.

A Portal Collection would probably be a good fit on the Next console.

I keep trying to get into FallOut but I just Can't.  Now I probably love reading all the story and dialog from all the games.  Did that with the MGS serious.  Had more fun with the Database then the last game.

Not big into Open World Games...

I would sum up my FallOut as conceptually fun.  Actually not.

Gregg New Business:

Designer Jeans with Armor the Keeping it Real in battle.

Sounded like 50-20 hour game lol

Thats why I didn't pick up BioShock.  I love to read the story of it and all that.

Did you right an actual Review of Okamiden?


Mailbox
Its going to be NES and SNES hands down.

Nintendo is suppose to be saying something Monday.

They did some Sea ones.

Getting early to 3rd Parties = Leaks

They promised that with the PSP connection

I bought my PS3 to get the BC before it was gone or I may have a 360 but I've been happy with the PS3 as a media center.

I want to see Virtual Boy Games for 3DS.

Yeah I see them on putting GCN on VC to make money.  Expect seeing those added really really fast.

Cubivore... Took me 3 years...

Salesbot would love Chibi to come back

Lets release WW with 70% less water...

The really need to vary that and make it more predictive.

Store... is... Terrible compared to a lot of others...

Hoping for SSD and full copy to the drive for games

Wow I didn't realize it was the 64mb of memory...

Yes you are.

Think pay for Input.

lol, could be...

Think about all the press it already had.  Until voting for MM's underpants I didn't know they were making that game.  I like the thing that have come from that series but I have never played one.

All the Fighting games at once lol

I've spent more to help different things without anything coming back.

Really, I don't think I've seen that...

Still...

Yeah, I had it for a bit it was...

Gregg Blocked

Got a clear invite right?

You're going to the NFL Draft?

Going to Visit?

Just call in, while driving.

[Kytim89]

Nintendo would be smart to have the Wii 2 play Gamecube games via discs and through emulation because they can resell their first part Gamecube games without having to spend money on advertisement and retailers.
 
One thing that the RFN crew did not mention was whether SEGA would bring over Dreamcast to Virtual Console. It would make a good edition with the original Skies of Arcadia, Soul Caliber, Grandia 2 and Jet Set Radio on the Wii 2. As for the SEGA Saturn, yes it is hard to emulate, but perhaps SEGA can figure some way to bring it over because I would love to Saturn games on Virtual Console as well.
 
This is one of the main reasons as to why I am looking so forward to the Wii 2 because of what it will entail for Virtual Console. Nintendo could go a long way in breaking the ice in terms of titles that have not appeared on the service yet (sans Rare games, of course).
 
What does the RFN crew think of being able to play Virtual Console games with their original controllers via some kind of adapter. I have one of these adapters for my Wii and I love to be able to play NES games on Wii with the original NES controller. This would fit in well with the theme that was discussed on the show about having too many controllers for a system, but I would still not pass up the opprotunity to play Dreamcast games on the Wii 2 with the orginal Dreamcasy controller.

[Jonnyboy117]

I would much rather play Dreamcast games with a GameCube or Wii Classic controller.

[NWR_insanolord]

Speaking as someone who's used one somewhat recently, the Dreamcast controller is not at all comfortable to hold. Full compatibility with Dreamcast games, as well as, of course, some GameCube games, would require the return of analog shoulder buttons, one of the few negative changes to the CC Pro. If the rumored screen is there, you could even emulate the in-game VMU functionality.

I spent most of the second half of listening to this episode attempting the "Fly for Three Minutes" Hang Glider mission in Pilotwings Resort, which I'd heard stories of but never played prior to this, and finally managed to get 3 stars on it in the closing minutes.

[gtownclown]

Finished Chrono Trigger 2 days ago and almost through my second play through. Take that admiral never finishes ****. haha I'm about to listen to the new episode on a car ride I sure hope you didn't beat it first. But I'm very sure I have nothing at all to worry about. But seriously it just took 3rd place in my favorite RPG of all time list and it might over take ff6 if it holds out with the level of fucking awesomeness it has had so far . It has been a long time since a game has made me want to play it over and over again.


I had been stuck at the part where you have to find the wings of time for about a year or so.... well I bought it when it came out played for a week and got stuck and just now went back.(I always feel like I'm cheating when I use a walkthrough.)


Thanks for not letting this game go it honestly sparked that special feeling I got the first time I played ff6/3. I hope the admiral gets the same enjoyment I have from it.


And as always this show is what it is because it is edited well. I can't even imagine the level of frustrations that are involved with editing this mess but thank you.


[size=78%]PS Help the [/size]Japanese podcast with there sound levels editing. One of the voices makes my ears hurt with headphones and in my car just needs turned down a little or something.[size=78%] [/size]

[KDR_11k]

I know a lively fellow who's really quite unique. He's small and smart and yellow, with a rodent-like physique. He doesn't play the cello and he never deigns to speak. He's the Strong Man's leporello and they just call him The Streeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaak!

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

Jonny, I think your Western RPG experimentation would have gone better if you'd rented Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. It shares some of its core fundamentals with the new era Fallout games, but the world is so, so, so far superior in almost every conceivable way. Although since you expressed interest in Skyrim, I guess it makes sense to wait for that one.

On another page, if you wanted to play Portal 2's co-op campaign at some point, I'd gladly be your robot buddy.

[oohhboy]

The problem with Fallout 3 was due to it effectively being a giant Oblivion hack and Oblivion was never a good game. All the issues found in Oblivion made it's way to Fallout pretty much wholesale. The combat engine was always inadequate for the job magnified by the extensive use of firearms, the same bugginess and the same "Meh" environment of bland where plant life was the least of the issues. Even when heavily modded, it not fun to play.

The original 2 Fallout games abstracted traveling to a map, so whenever you stop somewhere it's always somewhere of interest unless you intentionally stopped in the middle of nowhere. I could go on about how much better the original fallouts are, but I am in no mood to type out a thesis.

"War, war never changes" has opened every fallout game and is pretty much fan service at this point.

If you want to play more Western "RPGs" I would highly suggest you go Eastern Europe with the S.T.A.L.K.E.R series. There are no levels or most of the usual conventions you expect from an RPG, but it has Roleplaying up the yinyan. As you play the game, you get better at playing it as you learn the hazards, get better equipment making you stronger, more capable to handle more and greater threats. It's on PC and be sure to patch it otherwise it is very nasty to play. Feel free to skip Clear Skies and move on to Call of Pripyat which contains everything good and almost none of the nasty elements found in previous games.

If a mid range PC isn't on the cards, then you could look at the near endless number of rouge-like you can play for free. To start you off lite, I highly recommend DOOM RL. Rouge-likes are not much to look at, but this is where the real bleeding edge of Western RPGs start at in the purely gameplay point of view.

[FZeroBoyo]

Let me start by saying: that little history session that Greg presented at the end was an awesome way to end the episode.


I actually started playing Chrono Trigger not to long ago too. Haven't put a lot of time into it, but I certainly hope to finish it soon and hear Jon finally complete it and get the biggest (?) cause of Lindemann Syndrome of his back. =P I played Fallout: New Vegas and while I did find it to be unstable with some minor freezes and long loading times, I found exploring and finding places to be intriguing and it was a surprisingly engaging experience for me.


As for favorite systems, my favorite console would be the Nintendo 64 mostly because 3 of my favorite games ever are on it (Banjo-Tooie, Majora's Mask, and Perfect Dark). My favorite handheld would be the DS because, as was said on the show, there's such a broad range of genres and I've tried out a number of them and have enjoyed them.


With Cafe/Stream/Wii 2 being confirmed a few hours ago, I'm certainly hoping that Nintendo will create a much more powerful system. As was said on one of these shows, it's not that they're using stronger hardware, it's just what hardware is on the market today. The 360 and PS3 are powerful, but they're roughly 5 to 6 years old now.

[Dozy Boy]

Mmm. Could someone confirm that Nintendo systems' codenames that began with D and R actually stood for the concepts of 'hardware still in D.evelopment' and 'hardware that was R.eady?' I'm almost certain that I saw an interview in Nintendo Power around the turn of the century that gave away this tidbit. But Google won't give me anything. This would include Reality, Dolphin, and Revolution and possibly others.

[noname2200]

I think there was some miscommunication regarding Jon's progress in Chrono Trigger. It sounds like Jonny thought Jon was already able to fly, while I think Jon's only just gotten the machine and still hasn't beaten the floating-rock dungeon. In any case, that dungeon was the hardest part of the game for me, and its two bosses (the red/blue combo Jon mentioned, and the last boss of that dungeon) are significantly tougher than what follows, so hang in there Jon!

[Ceric]

I think there was some miscommunication regarding Jon's progress in Chrono Trigger. It sounds like Jonny thought Jon was already able to fly, while I think Jon's only just gotten the machine and still hasn't beaten the floating-rock dungeon. In any case, that dungeon was the hardest part of the game for me, and its two bosses (the red/blue combo Jon mentioned, and the last boss of that dungeon) are significantly tougher than what follows, so hang in there Jon!

He's been two timing and has Chrono Train on his Twitter.  Its on the NWR Front page and he has an update so that might tell you more exact where he's at.

[noname2200]

I think there was some miscommunication regarding Jon's progress in Chrono Trigger. It sounds like Jonny thought Jon was already able to fly, while I think Jon's only just gotten the machine and still hasn't beaten the floating-rock dungeon. In any case, that dungeon was the hardest part of the game for me, and its two bosses (the red/blue combo Jon mentioned, and the last boss of that dungeon) are significantly tougher than what follows, so hang in there Jon!

He's been two timing and has Chrono Train on his Twitter.  Its on the NWR Front page and he has an update so that might tell you more exact where he's at.

There's a front page?! o_O

[Ceric]

I think there was some miscommunication regarding Jon's progress in Chrono Trigger. It sounds like Jonny thought Jon was already able to fly, while I think Jon's only just gotten the machine and still hasn't beaten the floating-rock dungeon. In any case, that dungeon was the hardest part of the game for me, and its two bosses (the red/blue combo Jon mentioned, and the last boss of that dungeon) are significantly tougher than what follows, so hang in there Jon!

He's been two timing and has Chrono Train on his Twitter.  Its on the NWR Front page and he has an update so that might tell you more exact where he's at.

There's a front page?! o_O

I know.  I'm often surprised by that as well.

[NWR_insanolord]

Now that I'm staff, I need to be outraged at that kind of attitude, and strongly urge people to go to the front page often.

[Crimm]

Now that I'm staff, I need to be outraged at that kind of attitude, and strongly urge people to go to the front page often.

I make the pretty pictures in the squares.

[SonofMrPeanut]

While your "What happens to the 3DS?" concern might be valid at first glance, Jonathan, rumors so far only indicate a screen.  Significant internal memory storage was never confirmed by any source.  From what we've heard so far, the games will "stream" to the controller within a certain range.  If you're within the limits of your property (unless you live on a Ranch or something), you can play with it anywhere.  If you're outside those limits, however, it would not work like the NGP/PS3 relationship will.  The console would also need to be on.


I think this is likely, so I wouldn't worry about the controller taking too much of a chunk out of the 3DS' economic space.  Plus I doubt it would be 3D, so there.

[lolmonade]

It is unreasonable of me to think the code name "Cafe" has to do with the idea of connectivity with other people?  When I heard the word I think social gathering with free wireless internet.  I can't help but think this is an inkling towards Nintendo putting a serious foot forward on their online infrastructure.

As unlikely as I think it is, I would really like to see the option to utilize a DSI or 3DS as a spare controller for the new Nintendo system.  I have the same problem with piles of plastic controllers that Jonny has, and would love to be able to use my 3DS as a second controller instead of having to drop $50 for a 2nd/3rd controller.

I actually started playing Chrono Trigger not to long ago too. Haven't put a lot of time into it, but I certainly hope to finish it soon and hear Jon finally complete it and get the biggest (?) cause of Lindemann Syndrome of his back. =P I played Fallout: New Vegas and while I did find it to be unstable with some minor freezes and long loading times, I found exploring and finding places to be intriguing and it was a surprisingly engaging experience for me.

Enjoy your playthrough.  Nothing like playing Chrono Trigger for the first time.  My first RPG was Final Fantasy VII, and I came back and played Chrono Trigger on PS1, and even the terrible menus and load times couldn't ruin my wonderful experience with that game.

Maybe i'm just getting old, or don't have enough time, but I can't bring myself to invest time in an RPG lately.  I end of thinking for a while that i've just grown out of the genre, but I love coming back to Chrono Trigger, FF IV, and the PS1 FF games. 

[Chocobo_Rider]

Another fantastic episode.

I have been in podcast heaven lately while traveling.

Anyway... responses....

1. From the PS2 days to the Wii, I always wanted to play Phantom Brave.  The art style looked great and the gameplay looked fun.  However, hearing the description during the podcast?? I reeeeeally don't think I would like it.  Maybe someday if it's super cheap I'll pickup the Wii version but it sounds like too much of a headache for me.

Btw, is Phantom Brave truly a spin-off to the story of Disgaea? Or is it just a game with a similar aesthetic?

2. Lindy, you've given me a new Pokémon catch phrase - "gotta catch a substantial amount!"

3. I also thought of some kind of "social" aspect when I heard the term Café associated with the new Nintendo console.  I certainly wouldn't put a lot of stock in the codenames for consoles.  For instance, putting the Gamecube in water does not function as well as a Dolphin.

However, I think if there was a meaning behind the Revolution codename it may have been a more literal interpretation - simply, to revolve/rotate/turn, like axis of data communicated by the wiimote as it traveled through 3-dimensional space - something that was novel at the time.

Funny, assuming that is closer to the intended meaning of the codename, this gen saw the "revolution" and the "360" ... if only the Dreamcast had been around with its spiral-y logo!
<zing!>... the only thing Sony spun this generation was its wheels! </zing!>
I kid, I kid. Kaz knows I have been "not e" since '95.

[KDR_11k]

1080p60 depends on the developers, not the hardware. Few HD games run on 60 FPS while Nintendo almost always delivers 60 even though the Wii is much weaker than the HD systems. Developers have to decide how to allocate the system's resources and if they decide to spend the power on making it pretty instead of making it fast then the resolution and framerate are going to suffer no matter what the hardware does. The PC is special because it's not a fixed hardware platform, anybody with a PC that's better than what the developers exploited will get a better resolution and framerate as a result.

I think Nintendo will likely make games run at 1080p at a steady 60 frames per second. That's just how Nintendo operates.

[Crimm]

Now that I'm staff, I need to be outraged at that kind of attitude, and strongly urge people to go to the front page often.

I make the pretty pictures in the squares.

They're so pretty.

[Ceric]

Now that I'm staff, I need to be outraged at that kind of attitude, and strongly urge people to go to the front page often.

I make the pretty pictures in the squares.

They're so pretty.

They're Crimm's Precious.

[Crimm]

Eh, I'm not sold on the DS one, but it was late and I was tired.'


I had a better one for the updated Wii Successor rumor list but my image editor died just as it was saving.

[Ceric]

Eh, I'm not sold on the DS one, but it was late and I was tired.'


I had a better one for the updated Wii Successor rumor list but my image editor died just as it was saving.

Hate when that happens.  You mean the red DS top?