Messages

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TalkBack / Re: Zelda U Deep Dive

« on: December 12, 2014, 11:16:25 AM »

One other thing I noticed that I didn't hear you guys bring up (sorry if you did)...


When Link pulls the bow, looks like you can switch arrows with up and down on the dpad. Probably a tie in with the remaining mystery in the E3 footage.




I'm calling it now... Link is Hawkeye now.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 389: Best Practices

« on: July 11, 2014, 09:42:46 AM »

@James: Thanks for the post. Airing it that way makes sense, and I get what you're saying, and aside from preferences here and there, I don't disagree with anything you're saying. Although I might argue that the majority of Melee players at this point might be current tournament players (conjecture and unimportant), this certainly won't be the case for Smash 4, so there is a potential for change.


For anybody who's not aware, the current rulesets were developed with a good deal of trial and error... the early Melee rulesets actually had items on. The issues occurred (in tournament) fairly frequently, where exploding boxes/capsules/etc would literally fall out of the sky on one person's head, and you couldn't turn boxes/capsules off in the options. The problem occurred that nobody would want to travel/spend time+money for a tournament where one random occurrence would end their run... so the scene would have died.
To James' point, you can minimize this with having more stock, etc... but if you and your opponent are roughly equal and the game decides to bop you only.. you get my point. It leaves a bad taste in the players' (and spectators') mouths.


With Brawl, there actually was the option to turn off all exploding items, eliminating the insta-death threat. But people get stuck once a standard is developed, so the "no items" methodology was adopted from the start. I'll say that it is very likely that the majority of Smash 4 tournaments early on will do the same thing...
But here's where people can actually make a difference. People can argue til they're blue in the fingertips on websites like Smashboards, etc... but the way to make a change is through doing tournaments and having people come and enjoy themselves. In a typical competitive environment, "random" is usually associated with "unfair", but it's possible that isn't the case.


If people are able to have tournaments with items that other people actually consistently attend, then the scene will have to shift. Period. But it's going to be on the people who care to actually make these tournaments happen. The tournament organizer can put whatever ruleset he wants, and people will come if they are interested. I know I would personally attend an items-on tournament anywhere near me. To this point, I am actually planning a tournament in SC for the next few months. This tournament WILL have an items-on event (in addition to a standard-ruleset event). I don't think everybody is opposed to items... but the current competitive players tend to prefer them off. If you want to change minds, show people something different. There's a huge audience for the new games... the time for a change (if one is going to happen) is now.
Essentially I'm saying... you want an items-on tournament? Make one, instead of complaining that the tournament rules don't allow them. You aren't limited by that. (note: this isn't directed at anybody in particular)

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Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 389: Best Practices

« on: July 10, 2014, 04:08:26 PM »

@Lindemann and @[size=1.125em]Guillaume: None of my Smash comments at all are directed towards you, because honestly you've never said anything that wasn't understandable on the subject. Sorry if I was unclear on that. You guys are awesome. Keep trucking. [/size][/color]

[size=1.125em]@Jonny, I want to take a step back and apologize. I'm not just trying to be frustrating here. I understand what you have done and continue to do with the show, and I honestly appreciate it. I was a bit harsh early on and I understand/apologize for that, but I do feel like there's another side to the debate that has never truly been aired on the show... so in the context of all episodes on the subject, regardless of your attempt, the overarching sentiment that gets conveyed is A) 1 guy bashes a scene B) 3 guys maybe disagree maybe don't, but don't get too involved because they don't want to just argue. All of that is understandable. I do have an issue with you/James both essentially lumping the GCN controller hype into 'well that's what smasher's are used to so "it feels good to be pandered to"' when nearly everybody would have been happy with a wired WiiU Pro controller.. but I'm willing to chalk that up to a disagreement. [/size][/color]
[size=1.125em]Regarding your last comment... a couple things stood out. Bringing up tournament Smash to eventually have it shut down/crapped on every.single.time. is not going to be a "win". Ignoring that Smash Bros is a game is not going to be a "win" (as you said). I think the real "win" that you're looking for would be to bring somebody on the show that IS a part of the tournament scene to have a 10-20 minute discussion on the series as a whole on the reasoning for tournament play / rulesets / character choices, etc AND wrap it up with a "here's what to expect from Smash 4 from a competitive mindset" discussion. I truly think this would be an interesting way to present the other side of the discussion, and at least some fans might be interested in learning how they can get involved early on, etc. I definitely think there are a huge number of fans who play the game only casually... and that's great. The games are great for that... BUT there are also a huge number of fans who DO care about the tournament scene, especially since the Melee Documentary. I understand reasons for not doing this, but I would ask you to give another voice on the topic before shutting it down completely. Again, I apologize for any frustration caused. [/size][/color]

[size=1.125em]@James (if you're out there): To preface all of this, I actually agree with your comments on most other games and generally enjoy your segments on the show. Regarding Smash, I understand that you're trolling. You might actually believe your statements, and honestly, it's cool if you do. The problem is... you come off as telling people "customizing the game in this way is bad and not fun. You should ONLY customize it in THIS way!" There are competitive players that would probably say something similar to casuals.... but imo nobody should dictate that. If you have fun on FFA with all items on Very High... that's great. So do I. But there are people who have dedicated amazing amounts of time and money to keeping the games alive as a fair/competitive game (which they CAN be), and calling those people "terrible" is, frankly, offensive and stupid. Whether or not you agree with the scene, I don't see your point here in calling them down for playing the game in this way... "can't we all just get along?"[/size][/color]

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Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 389: Best Practices

« on: July 10, 2014, 10:56:43 AM »

I think Jonny is a great host... and I respect his opinion quite a bit (although I usually personally disagree with his game preferences), but there are things on the show lately that are just plain wrong or overlooked, and that bothers me.


The specific argument "Why do people love the GCN controller" came up on the show, and Jonny even chimed in with (paraphrase) "the Classic Controller Pro is better in nearly every way", without highlighting the obvious benefits that the GCN controller has over the CCP, or any other controller that Nintendo has made since the Gamecube. Namely (with regards to the CCP):
A) the wire so inputs aren't dropped (NOTORIOUS on the CCP)
B) The reversed control stick position, which is MUCH better for long-term/technical play with the stick (the CCP is geared towards...classic games, so the dpad's preference is understandable there, but not for Smash Bros, which is a control-stick-specific game)
C) The rumble... admittedly not a huge deal, but an option > no option, so this is a + for the GCN controller.


Whether this conversation was directly related to Smash or not (which if you're honest, it kind of HAS to be since the GCN controller is being released FOR Smash only, at least at the moment), Smash 4 would not have had any kind of good competitive scene without a wired controller. Period. So tournament players were worried about it and OVERJOYED when one was revealed. To me (and at least a few others), the fact that it was a Gamecube controller was just icing on the cake (and meant that nobody would have to relearn the control scheme if they played Melee OR Brawl, where the GCN controller was the ONLY wired input available)


This just leads to an overarching problem with the show lately. The hosts (admittedly) do not understand the tournament Smash scene, which includes some (not all) of the most die-hard Nintendo fans there are. While I don't think it's a prerequisite for the hosts to be part of the tournament scene (that would be ridiculous), completely dismissing the scene as a subset, and repeated accusations of "playing the game wrong" are just stupid.


Look I get that you guys all have strong opinions on everything, as do I, but telling anybody that the way they enjoy playing a game, which freely encourages customization, is "wrong" and "not fun" is just a stupid statement. You play the way you want to, and we'll do the same... there doesn't have to be shots fired across those lines.


All that said, as I stated before, I do respect you guys' opinions, and I do appreciate you spending the time to put your voices and thoughts out there. I just wish that it felt like you cared about other fans' opinions and voices, and that you wouldn't shuffle it under the rug with "oh James bashes everybody". Bashing developers for game design choices is understandable. Bashing other fans that don't really impact you is dumb.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 389: Best Practices

« on: July 07, 2014, 02:58:16 PM »

I have tried in the past to be nicer about this and actually write decent paragraphs about how I disagree with some points you make about Smash Bros, and players of Smash Bros, but this week actually kind of pissed me off.


I'm ok with James having his opinions of Smash Bros and its players. I'm ok with Jonny's points this week about the Gamecube controller... but for a Nintendo-themed podcast, you guys really need to do some homework before making these kind of statements. 


How do you have an entire discussion about why the community prefers Gamecube controllers without even mentioning that it's the ONLY wired controller that either the Wii or Wii U have offered? It's not a new concept that any kind of competition needs to have as little input lag as possible to avoid having the hardware cause you to lose. This is why competition fight sticks, FPS controllers, gaming mice, etc etc etc are all wired.


Now that's not the only reason the GCN controller is well-received. Other reasons would include the fact that the control stick is actually very rugged and responsive, the A button is a focal point, the stick is an 8-direction focus (which discourages random UP inputs, etc), and the analog shoulder buttons allow light-shielding (which makes a difference) in Melee.


It's not that the GCN controller was what we "grew up playing with" (although I'm sure that helps), it's that at any given point in Smash's history, it was the best available option for competitive play. That said, most people I've heard from actually like the Wii U Pro controller, and would have supported it. However, there were large concerns over the input lag/dropped inputs from a wireless controller... especially when you have upwards of 100 people trying to sync to consoles in the same room.




As I have written in previously, I think it would be helpful if you guys actually did some sort of panel with competitive Smashers, to get kind of the flip side of the argument, as opposed to only bashing a "subset" of people for "playing the game wrong", when that same subset are the ones who have kept a game alive for > 10 years.

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Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 343: Steam Punk'd

« on: July 22, 2013, 09:40:39 PM »

I like how Lindemann complained about loose joysticks on an in-store demo unit..


Have you never played a demo at a Wal-mart before?? The Gamecube controllers used to look like a dog chewed them.

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TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Reverses Decision, Allowing Evo to Stream Smash Bros. Melee Tournament

« on: July 10, 2013, 12:22:30 AM »

Yeah, I really think this was just a matter of somebody saying "oh this is streaming, we don't want that"... and then a supervisor going "oh...yeah we don't have a problem with that"




Guessing this was a one-person mistake that has been rectified. No big deal now.