Topic: Episode 257: Ode to Joypads

[Yoshidious]

The nearest branch of GAME to me only has the £50 Red CC Pro bundle version of Xenoblade in stock at the moment, which for someone with two CCs already in his possession is a bit too much to pay right now (my online order for the game on its own comes to a little more than half the price).

[Jonnyboy117]

Regarding FF3/6's translation, there is a very good explanation for why TYP and Greg were sometimes confused about who is speaking in the story scenes. The game has both character-specific and generic dialogue, and many scenes contain both. For instance, there are a few times in the World of Balance when Locke is required to accompany Terra, but you can choose the other two party members. This is because Locke has a specific role to play in the story scenes, including his own unique dialogue. The other party members you selected are variables in these scenes, so Ted Woolsey wrote generic dialogue that is meant to apply regardless of which characters you have around at that particular moment. You can easily identify these passages because there will be no name preceding the text, versus the usual format of "NAME: Dialogue goes here."

[KDR_11k]

The nearest branch of GAME to me only has the £50 Red CC Pro bundle version of Xenoblade in stock at the moment, which for someone with two CCs already in his possession is a bit too much to pay right now (my online order for the game on its own comes to a little more than half the price).

Aren't there other stores that sell games near you?

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

The nearest branch of GAME to me only has the £50 Red CC Pro bundle version of Xenoblade in stock at the moment, which for someone with two CCs already in his possession is a bit too much to pay right now (my online order for the game on its own comes to a little more than half the price).

Aren't there other stores that sell games near you?

In Britain, there's definitely been a reduction in the number of brick-and-mortar stores that sell games. GAME is the only dedicated store now that Gamestation has been absorbed, and they tend to be more expensive than average. And when I say that, I mean that I've seen the past two Call of Duty games (this is the standard version, not the collector's edition) priced at £54.99, equivalent of roughly $88. I really wish I was joking.

Elsewhere, there's the supermarket chains, which have poor selections at high prices, and HMV, which isn't much better. All 3DS games at £34.99, regardless of when they came out? No thanks.

Put it this way: the nearest store to me is a 20 minute drive to the next town over, and that's just a Blockbusters that thinks it's okay to sell pre-owned copies of games for almost full price, which for console games is usually £39.99.

That's why nearly all of my shopping is done online now. Amazon is the go-to site - they pretty much always take £5-10 off the RRP right at launch, and cuts are common after that. Play also has decent prices on a lot of things too. Of course, can't forget Steam, the best download-only games service out there. Unless it's a member of the Call of Duty series, the big console titles start at £29.99, most start lower than that even, and there are new deals and bundles every week.

Basically, we're a long way from how it is in the state of Virginia, where from what I've heard from this podcast, you have five GameStops within a couple of miles of each other. Although based on all the horror stories I've heard about GameStop, it sounds like Amazon is still the prime place to shop for games.

[KDR_11k]

I mostly buy at electronics retailers. Media Markt had Xenoblade for 45€ at launch.


EDIT:
I don't think the Wii U has any real overlap with tablets, it looks similar but will be bought for a completely different purpose. The 3DS and Vita are competition to it but not as closely as the current and next generation consoles. I just hope the "play without a TV!" gimmick won't end up scaring devs away from using the touchscreen for game elements.


To me the main difference between jRPGs and cRPGs is the amount of consequence in them. Mass Effect asks for your take on things like five times in every cutscene. In Xenoblade the main story progresses when I make it to checkpoints and it doesn't ask me how I'd like to have it progress. While jRPGs can be infuriating if your characters keep doing stupid things (FFVIII anyone?) they're much more relaxed because they keep their game mechanics and story fairly separate, you can do whatever you want in the mechanical part of the game and don't have to worry about screwing with the story part.


I define a game's length as how long I play it, not how long it takes to get to the credits. It doesn't matter if a game has 40 hours of content if I get bored after five. Conversely many games don't have anything that defines their length, e.g. AI War Fleet Command doesn't have a single campaign to play through, a "campaign" is one game match and they're designed to be different every time.

[KisakiProject]

I loved the soundtrack discussion at the end of the show.  Also Chrono Cross's OST is definitively and objective the best game soundtrack  : Dunno why you think its so hard to pic a favorite.

[Crimm]

One thing about the Chrono Cross soundtrack is the dexterity with which it uses the "etude." The fact it is literally hidden in some songs is a nice touch for people listening closely.

[Chocobo_Rider]

lllllet's get ready for responseehhhhhhssssss!!!!

... and here they are ...

1. I just went and counted and I have over 50 Wii games.  I definitely agree that anyone who can't find good games on the platform isn't looking hard enough.  Thanks for giving the underrated white box its due.

EDIT: My point in posting this figure was to illustrate that there are still games I feel my collection is lacking.  Endless Ocean 1+2, Lost in Shadow, Fragile Dreams, S+P2, ShaunWhite:World Stage (hey, I liked the first one!).  Future purchases will include: Bit.Trip Complete, Skyward Sword, DQX, Kirby'sRtD, and any of the OpRainfall games that NoA decides to grace us with.

2.  A thousand agreements that the Wii U needs a new name.  They are going to lose so many sales because people will be confused.  Even people who aren't confused will have trouble understanding why they need this new white box if the old one has a uDraw.

Anyone think there is even a CHANCE it could have a late name change like Sony's NGP did??

3. That's a pretty astute observation on the source material for RPGs, James.  I'd never thought of Western RPGs as having D&D roots but I guess I can see it.

4. Yea, I used to loooove longer games.  And back then, games didn't need to worry about being 20hrs (padded or otherwise!) to avoid negative buzz.  But for me, now, a 5-10 hr jaunt of a game is perfect.

I burn through games JamesJones-style.  100% if I can.  That's just how I enjoy games.  If I spend too long between plays or try to play more than 2 games at a time, I get fuzzy on the details and then I feel like starting over =)

So yea, these days my approach to gaming is a lot like punk rock: "don't bore us, get to the chorus" =D

5. I don't remember how long in all, but playing 999 enough times to get all the endings certainly took me a while!   *grumble*grumble* stupid ending ..... that 3DS sequel better answer some damn questions!  I am letting Chunsoft (right?) fool me once on this franchise.  If it happens again? I'll be saying NEIN NEIN NEIN!!

*canned applause*

6. Really loved the intellectual discussion about music in games.  And yea, the Layton franchise is really all about atmosphere, and so far they've nailed it every time!

Off the top of my head, MegaMan, Sonic and Kirby games probably get my top 3 for music.  Certain Zelda tunes can really tug at my heart strings (Lon Lon Ranch!), but those other franchises tend to have the kind of stuff you can throw on a music player and just enjoy as kick-ass instrumentals.

7. Let's go, Buffalo!!
(... and, slightly more importantly, the NY football Giants!)

[TJ Spyke]

The NGP name didn't technically change because Sony made it clear that Next Generation Portable was just the codename and was NOT gonna be the final name. I think the Wii U name is fine and don't understand the hate and confusion over it.

[Chocobo_Rider]

The NGP name didn't technically change because Sony made it clear that Next Generation Portable was just the codename and was NOT gonna be the final name. I think the Wii U name is fine and don't understand the hate and confusion over it.

yea... I was kinda thinking that. Well, NGP aside.  Anyone have any hope for a name change?!

I respect your opinion that the name is fine.  I just think there's a ton of room for improvement and I really think it's going to do harm come purchase time.

[yoshi1001]

Playing the ambassador games really reminds me of Retro Game Challenge. Anyone else get that vibe?

[TJ Spyke]

Played some more:

I don't like Wrecking Crew, seems primitive and controls not that good.
Metroid still feels as very dated and not good now.
I don't like golf games anyways, so I was not a fan of NES Open Tournament Golf and the manual didn't help.
The Legend of Zelda has good music, but I was never a big fan of the game and never played much of it.

[yoshi1001]

If you don't like Metroid, I'd say give it another shot with the "NARPAS SWORD" password. It makes the game very easy (you can't die), but you can still explore as much (or as little) as you want.

[KDR_11k]

Nah, don't bother breaking the game, it's easy enough once you get used to it.

[broodwars]

When it comes to gaming music, I prefer my soundtracks to be based around a wide variety of memorable melodies.  That's really the mark of an excellent soundtrack: you notice it's there when you play the game and it inspires the appropriate feelings, and it sticks with you long after you stop playing it.

I liked Nier's soundtrack enough to buy it, but when you listen to it a lot of the songs tend to bleed together because they are based around the same motif: haunting chorals in the background with a light tune that may or may not have a beat.  Chrono Cross is a great soundtrack with a great variety of tracks (some of which call back to the Chrono Trigger theme), but I only found a handful of tracks to be altogether memorable outside of the game.  I thought Chrono Trigger struck a really good balance in that respect, so of the two games I vastly prefer that OST.

[Mop it up]

I consider the length of a game to be how long I played it, not how long it took to see the credits. Some games may be short and beatable in a few hours, but if there is extra content or reason enough to replay it, it won't be a short-lived game. Then there are multiplayer-focused games like Mario Kart, where the single player can be completed in two hours, but the multiplayer and online modes make it infinitely replayable. That's a part of the reason why I like random elements in such games; no two races of Mario Kart are the same, and so races feel fresh for a long time because they always play out differently.

The time logs on the Wii and 3DS are appreciated, because they are a good indicator to help me determine how much entertainment I got out of a game and if it were worth the price. That doesn't mean I enjoyed every minute of it, but it does give me an idea of it.

As for soundtracks, I can't even remember any tunes from Chrono Chross. After an amazing soundtrack like Chrono Trigger, there was just nothing in it which could compare.

[Chocobo_Rider]

Mop_it_up - Yea, too bad gaming media is built on professional reviewers who need to get to those credits so they can move on to the next game on their schedule =\

[lolmonade]

This may or may not have been mentioned in the other comments, but at my last few visits at Wal-Mart, I saw the price was reduced for their current stock of Wii systems to $135.  Isn't MSRP currently at $150?
 
To me that would be an indication of the new model coming to North America soon, and Wal-Mart trying to deplete remaining stock before this happens.  That person that was teetering between buying a Wii and waiting for a Wii U may want to jump on purchasing a new Wii before the neutered one that doesn't have GC backwards compatibility takes over retail shelves if that backlog matters at all to them.

[TJ Spyke]

Yes, the MSRP is still $149.99, and it's what other retailers (GameStop, Best Buy, and Amazon from what I checked) are charging. Walmart might just be doing a sale like they sometimes do, or they might assume North America will get the gimped Wii too.

[Fiendlord_Timmay]

I played the original Metroid for the first time about a year ago. At first, I hated it because I couldn't figure out where the hell to go. But then I printed out a full map of the game off the internet and that was enough to get me through the rough spots. I ended up beating the game and thoroughly enjoying it.

So if you find yourself hating the first metroid, don't feel ashamed to use the internet to help you. Do whatever it takes to make playing the game fun.

[Chocobo_Rider]

Do whatever it takes to make playing the game fun.

This is a good motto for all gaming.

.... other than online cheating of course.

[TJ Spyke]

I used a Action Replay to play Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, and I had no problem doing so. I had fun playing the game.

[KDR_11k]

Maps for Metroid are unnecessary, don't you have a brain for that?

[Chocobo_Rider]

I used a Action Replay to play Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, and I had no problem doing so. I had fun playing the game.

I use cheats all the time for games I've beaten already.  That's why the Game Genie was "the radical game ENHANCER"!! =P

[LittleIrves]

James, you're a talented violinist....  but you're wrong about NES Open Tournament golf. I love plowing through 18 holes in half an hour and trying to best my score. Sadly, it's pretty realistic, in that I can barely break 90. Very simple fun, the NES game I've played most on my 3DS so far.