Topic: Episode 461: A Unique Boutique Experience

[NWR_Lindy]

All inventory will be accompanied with a unique boutique price.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/41867/episode-461-a-unique-boutique-experience

After a long absence, Jon is back! It is up to you to determine if that exclamation indicates joy or fear; please reserve judgment until episode is complete - he has earned such caution.

Guillaume starts off New Business this week with Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure, Capcom's early Wii point-and-waggle adventure game, now available for download on the Wii U eShop. He follows it up with early thoughts on Final Fantasy Explorers, the Monster Hunter-inspired 3DS spin-off. Expect more involved impressions in the coming weeks. James takes his role as host of Radio Free NINTENDO very seriously, respecting the time you devote to listen to the show by talking about Suikoden, a 21 year old PlayStation JRPG. Striding the gulf in time between the the 16 and 32-bit eras, it's a curious title that still has him excited about the gameplay implications for future entries, coming soon to a pachinko parlor near you. Jon makes his triumphant return to New Business with the anti-Xenoblade Chronicles X, The Order: 1886. His segment seems rendered in glorious detail, but I think the content of it is pretty shallow. Lastly, Greg pulls us out of a New Business tailspin with impressions of indie darling, the Sega Master System-era throwback Freedom Planet. While the Sonic parallels are self-evident, the GENESIS of some of the other allusions represent a MASTER class in 90s Sega gaming (I have no regrets).

Following New Business, Now Playing makes its return after an absence from the show, appropriate since the segment itself is something of an abcess on the show.

After a musical interlude, it's time for Listener Mail. Topics covered this week include: finding the right Pokémon for a Shin Megami Tensei fan, paid DLC in Super Mario Maker, Nintendo's future retail plans, and open world as a gameplay design versus open world as a marketing tool. Here's where we use this article as a marketing tool to get you to send questions, comments, end music suggestions, and whatever strikes your fancy to our mailbag.

As a reminder, our next RetroActive segment is coming up. We're going to be playing Viewtiful Joe for the GameCube. The discussion thread is open, and just waiting for your comments. We'll be doing this RetroActive in three weeks, so get started soon if you want to play along with us!

One final plug: Guillaume has finished Xenoblade Chronicles X, which means we're going to be doing our Spoilercast sometime in the near future. What's that mean for you? We want your reactions, fan theories, thoughts, etc. sent to our mailbag. In order to insulate others from spoilers, please use email instead of forum posts. For those of you that haven't played or completed Xenoblade Chronicles X yet, we will do some other spoiler-free content. No one escapes the reach of Radio Free Nintendo for even a week.

[Ninferno]

Great show as always. Can't wait for the XCX spoilercast. :

[InvaderREN]

I'm 60 hours into XCX, probably won't finish for a month or 2. Can the spoiler cast PLEASE start off with impressions, likes, dislikes etc THEN...  move into full on spoiler territory? That would be lovely. :-)

[ClexYoshi]

Eidolin (Ai-Dohl-en)

108 Stars of Destiny, like the 108 beads on a Mantra band.

complete mediocridy is probably worse than being outright kusoge garbage.



And then Greg answered my prayers! I can now FINALLY shut up about Freedom Planet! I've been BEGGIN' you guys to play this game. @_@ honestly, I'm SO happy that you're willing to make the Treasure comparison. Finally, my Indie gmae of 2014 gets some recognition here!

https://supermariomakerbookmark.nintendo.net/courses/3878-0000-002C-0AB9
you might enjoy this too, Greg! it's made by the developer of Freedom Planet!

Also, they're making a sequel.

Also, I was a fan of Woofle's music (the lady who helped strife with the soundtrack composition and arrangement) and that's how I learned about the project in 2011, even before the SAGE (Sonic Ameteur Game Expo) 2012 demo. This game has a lot of history and ehart put into it. I love it SO much!



... Sorry, I'm gushing.

I knew about Bravely Second's Ba'al Busting perchant given that I put in the code to get their weird AR trialer that was in the first game.



... I doubt Bret will read here, but I'd reccomoend the 5th generation games (Black, White), or if you're willing to go for a much slower game, go for Pokemon Collesium or Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness. also, you clearly haven't watched Magikarp sweep vids, James. there are insane setups to use almost any poke you want. the Yokai Watch is probably a good suggestion there too.

[KDR_11k]

Regarding game length: I feel that over the last few years size has stopped impressing people or at least the reviewers I listen to. Sheer square mileage hasn't been a real selling point recently even though Nintedno doesn't seem to have noticed that.


Though on The Order, the most damning reviews I've seen said that despite its short overall length it still felt too long for the content in it, great amounts of padding and recycling.

[SonofMrPeanut]

Universal Citywalk in Hollywood/Studio City and Orlando makes the most sense as far as opening other Nintendo stores.  It's still a focused few locations, those locations get a healthy amount of traffic, and they can build stores to the scale of New York's there.  Really, I'm expecting to hear to the words "Nintendo LA" and "Nintendo OL" announced before the year is out.

[Shaymin]

I'll second ClexYoshi on Pokemon BW if you're coming from Megaten, or YoKai Watch.

If they want to do paid DLC for Super Mario Maker, I'll throw down a few bucks for a Super Mario All Stars filter on the 1 and 3 skins.

[NWR_Lindy]

Though on The Order, the most damning reviews I've seen said that despite its short overall length it still felt too long for the content in it, great amounts of padding and recycling.

I can confirm that this is the case. Once you realize that yeah, the entirety of the gameplay is cover-based shooting in kill rooms punctuated by the odd quicktime event fight, you're like, "Alright, lets just get this over with." Nothing about the game is particularly novel aside from the high-quality visuals, so you really just want to wrap it up quickly. The story kind of falls of the rails at the end too, so when you're done you're more than ready to move on.

Again, not a terrible game. I'd give it maybe 6/10.  But if you never play it in your life you aren't missing anything.

[Kobeskillz]

That 10 bucks spent on the order could have gone to splinter cell black list for wiiu. Try it Jon it's one fantastic game.

[Lemonade]

Can the spoiler cast PLEASE start off with impressions, likes, dislikes etc THEN...  move into full on spoiler territory? That would be lovely. :-)

I agree, that would be nice.
I have only just finished chapter 7, so I still have a long way to go. But Im sure I will listen to the full spoiler cast at some point.

[Crimm]

I'll keep that in mind for the spoilercast

[TOPHATANT123]

Will the spoiler cast cover the original game as well or just X? I don't mind but I think it's important to make the distinction.

[Crimm]

Haven't decided. If both we will say so.

[ejamer]

Question for the spoilercast:


[spoilr]At the end of Xenoblade Chronicles X, just after the point where they take away your Skell and force you to complete a timed stealth section wearing only a skin-tight flight suit, there was a hidden area where you compete in a fashion show for hidden bonus equipment. I wanted to know if you felt that censoring the "under 12 male swimsuit" competition was warranted as part of the localization process, of if they should have left all contestants "toes free" as in the original Japanese release instead of making them wear swimming shoes?[/spoilr]


I haven't had time to put any significant play into Xenoblade Chronicles X yet, despite still being really excited about the game.  Hope the discussion goes well.  Will look forward to listening to it... next year?


Did I do that spoiler tag thing right?   

[Plugabugz]

I'll keep that in mind for the spoilercast

This reads as I AM THE OVERLORD OF THE UNIVERSE AND YOU WILL LIKE IT.

[Crimm]

I mean I am, but largely I just haven't given it much thought.

[Evan_B]

Oh, ye of little faith, Greg.


I believe that the best Zelda game is Minish Cap. Why? Because it's not the largest Zelda, or the longest Zelda. But it is CHOCK-FULL of content and game design. Sure, the Kinstone mechanic was just about the only flaw to that end, but when you have a relatively small overworld that becomes larger because of the fundamental gameplay mechanic, you have such a wondrous formula. Houses in Castle Town become whole villages with their own challenges, a sewer system becomes a terrifying water dungeon. Cats wreck you, for goodness' sake!


But it stems from a design philosophy that Skyward Sword only touched upon slightly- that the world becomes more interesting, more expanse, as the character obtains abilities. Even Xenoblade Chronicles X has this to an extent, although it really only happens when you obtain your Skell and then its flight pack. With Zelda, you have a minimum of eight dungeons that offer you items which can vastly improve your mobility and ability to discover. This is the design philosophy that A Link to the Past utilized well with the Hookshot, and it's been used successfully with bombs on occasion within the series. When you tier exploration behind those items you allow for a satisfying experience. If you open the world to the player and place four dungeon entrances on one tier and four on the other, you're automatically encouraging exploration and experimentation because you limit the player. Xenoblade Chronicles X had an understanding of this but they tiered their game in ways that befit an RPG. With an action adventure title, things can be different and successful.


I feel that, if I can understand this, so can the Zelda Team. At least, I hope so.