Topic: Episode 308: Bathe in the Spicy RPG Sauce

[NdIGiTy]

This week is all business... New Business, that is! (Sorry, haters.)

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/31931

Since Gui couldn't edit this week, we kept the episode a lot shorter by focusing on just New Business. Jonny starts it with a whopping three games: the hardcore exploration WiiWare game La-Mulana, mildly controversial eShop platformer Fractured Soul, and the nostalgic vision quest of To the Moon for Steam. Guillaume follows with his own thoughts on Renegade Ops, plus a wrap-up for the Wii game now being sought all over the world, Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands.

After an oddly placed break for Now Playing, we return with James showcasing a couple of more obscure titles: the hybrid arcade/sim flight combat game called Birds of Steel, and a questionable genetic puzzle PC game called Splice. Then, returning champion Nate finally gets his turn with Nintendo's new 3DS RPG called The Denpa Men: They Came By Wave. He also shares impressions of the long-awaited Torchlight II for PC.

Next week, we're planning to discuss the latest RetroActive game: Kirby and the Amazing Mirror. Be sure to drop your thoughts in this here thread by Wednesday if you want a chance to be heard on the show! (Lots of useful tips over there, too.) And as always, the email lines are open and waiting for your excellent questions and comments.

[Pixelated Pixies]

I love new business!...but I hate short podcasts! Does that make me a lover or hater?

[famicomplicated]

Come on, you telling me you've finished listening to the Famicast already? It's over 3 days long!

[Glad0s]

Jonny forgot to mention the fact that the main character in To the Moon is named Jonny.

[Pixelated Pixies]

Come on, you telling me you've finished listening to the Famicast already? It's over 3 days long!

No not yet. I'm at the part where you can drink half a can of coke during the time between pushing a button and the attack landing in Monster Hunter (genius). My NWR podcast thirst is insatiable though.

[geo]

Jonny, please tell me you have played/like dark souls?  If you enjoyed la mulana, please give Dark souls a try.  And, like la mulana, I'd recommend watching some youtube videos on how to play since it doesnt teach you how to play.  Personally, I like figuring out things via trial and error, but if you don't, the resources are out there. 

[Hey Einstein!]

I'd read a few pieces about To The Moon and it's a game I am really interested in, sadly I don't have access to Windows games though. Which is a shame because it sounds like it would work pretty well as an iOS game. ANYWAY... Thanks Jonny and James for putting the show together this week and to everybody for making it happen. I do hope Lindy & family are doing okay.

[Ceric]

I love new business!...but I hate short podcasts! Does that make me a lover or hater?

That make you the current audience for Nintendo Free Radio...

[KDR_11k]

Lemme guess... The twist of To The Moon is that the old guy is Wernher Von Braun?

As far as too much loot, I do agree that Torchlight and Borderlands give out too much loot but not in the way it's described. Loot SHOULD be varied, equipping a new piece of gear SHOULD change the way you play but TL and BL2 just hand out too many "rare" items. In Diablo 1 and 2 it used to be an event to find a rare or unique item (D1 only had the uniques), in TL and BL you get so many green and blue items you really lose all sense of wonder from those. The rarity made D1 and 2 easier to handle, while loot could be rather varied anything that's not at least magical isn't even worth it as vendor trash and anything rare or unique was pretty much always worth it if it fit your playstyle.

Now loot variety is a different matter. Diablo 3 showed the perils of simplifying that. Loot came with a DPS or defense rating and the higher the better. The special attributes only consist of increasing the four basic stats you invest your stat points into so all you got from a new piece of loot was a minor statistical upgrade that you wouldn't even notice if it hadn't rubbed the numbers in your face. Borderlands 2 does variety right, there is far more to each weapon than just raw damage. On a basic level you got elemental attributes which change what enemies you'd want to use a gun on (and they're broad categories, fire is for flesh, acid for armor, lightning for shield) so it's not just rare elemental weaknesses you're exploiting. Then there are the manufacturer specials (Jakobs has no cooldown between shots and is semi-auto so you can hammer the trigger like mad, Hyperion has inverse recoil where MORE shooting improves accuracy, with Torgue everything explodes, etc) and other attributes like multi-shots, scopes, crit bonuses, E-tech (changes projectiles to stuff like laser bolts, homing darts, rockets, etc) and sometimes just plain insanity: I found an orange level Tediore shotgun, it's rather mediocre on its own but as with all Tediore guns reloading it consists of throwing it away and pulling out a new gun. Except this one doesn't just fall to the ground and explode, it flies through the air, chases after enemies and attacks them with remaining ammo before exploding on impact.

[Lithium]

@ Guillaume

edit: god abandoned this podcast after 103

[Pandareus]

@Lithium

Yeah, I really try to resist that. I make it a point to avoid giving in to grindy achievements and the like whenever I feel like I'm just rewarded for pressing a button. Now, I kept playing Renegade Ops because it's a genuinely good game, but apps like Tiny Tower can eff right off.

[Glad0s]

I still regret those few weeks where I spent my life hopelessly addicted to Tiny Tower. I stopped playing when I realized "Soo....what's my goal? Oh wait, there isn't one." I haven't played it since. Freedom.

[Jonnyboy117]

I rented Demon's Souls and didn't find it too appealing, though it was more the aimless structure than the difficulty that turned me off. I've heard Dark Souls is better, but still similar enough that I don't really care.


Johnny is the central character of To the Moon, but he's not the protagonist (you control the two scientists) and is more a tragic figure than a hero.

[Glad0s]

Oh, alright. I just thought it was a funny coincidence.

[Sundoulos]

I don't know how I missed it before, but I recently read that Freebird Games has started work on a sequel To The Moon.  I'm excited to see where it goes since they dropped a few hints in the first game that there that there are larger things at work than the game's plot explicitly indicate.

I agree that it's very well done, especially in the areas of the sprite work and music.  There's one area in the game where the music and setting definitely evoke memories of Chrono Trigger.

My only minor criticism of the game would be that I would have liked to have seen some different types of puzzles, if they were going to include puzzles at all.  The picture puzzles weren't terribly challenging, but they did kind of start to drag things down toward the middle of the game.  Playing the games in shorter sittings would probably help mitigate that feeling. 

[Fiendlord_Timmay]

Just out of curiosity Jonny, how big is your Steam backlog?

[Pixelated Pixies]

Just out of curiosity Jonny, how big is your Steam backlog?

I'd wager that his steam backlog is so big that it's beginning to precipitate.

[Ceric]

Just out of curiosity Jonny, how big is your Steam backlog?

I'd wager that his steam backlog is so big that it's beginning to precipitate.

So large that we can all run are Hype Trains from it.

[Pixelated Pixies]

So large that we can all run are Hype Trains from it.

That's alot of juice!

[Jonnyboy117]

It's about 15 games that I actually want to play. That doesn't include a few things I got in bundles and may just ignore forever. My backlog may not be the biggest, but it stresses me a bit because I continually, earnestly try to knock it down, whereas some people seem resigned to never catch up.

[Lithium]

yeah which is why i never buy a new game until i beat the game that I'm currently playing (unless i don't like it, then i drop it). However i bought the humble indie bundle 5 since it had lots of indie games i missed out on. a couple months later I have 2 games left to go until its finally finished

[KDR_11k]

I still regret those few weeks where I spent my life hopelessly addicted to Tiny Tower. I stopped playing when I realized "Soo....what's my goal? Oh wait, there isn't one." I haven't played it since. Freedom.

I think I felt I had seen all the content of that game within two days or so and stopped bothering.

[Fiendlord_Timmay]

It's about 15 games that I actually want to play.[/size]

You classify that as a lot? Wow, I must have a problem. XD

I knew my backlog was reaching Lindemann-esque proportions, but I have the issue that I intend to play almost all the games I have....

My current backlog for PC alone (games that I actually intend to play) is 82 games.
Total of games I intend to play is somewhere around 160.


And it's growing faster than it's shrinking because I've played maybe 10 hours of games in the last 6 weeks (because college), and deals keep popping up that I can't ignore.

I have no self control and no time! It's an awful combination. D:

[Glad0s]

Eighty.....two.....games......I thought my 20 or so backlogged games (across all platforms) was bad. Thanks for making me feel more positive about myself, Timmay!!!

[Sarail]

Pssssh, you guys. I have a backlog of 275 games currently. I'm sure there are others who can blow me away in that category, but man...I only WISH I had 82 to go!