Messages

26

Nintendo Gaming / Disgaea 3: A simple guide

« on: June 21, 2013, 10:35:28 AM »

Seriously, this one is as simple as it gets. You want more complicated? GameFAQs.

1. Build mages. Not optional. Build them fast and build them often. You'll be done with the main story in under 20 hours.
- Yes, they will be glass canons. Yes, I would recommend finishing a fight before they get slaughtered.

2. If you're looking to level up QUICK after that, look these terms up on Google:
- Reverse pirating
- Statistician
- Item duping

Get yourself 24 or more statisticians(x300 each), split amongst 3-4 items, and you'll get your characters to level 4,000+ in just a few quick fights.

You'll be doing hundreds of thousands or even millions of points in no time!

27

NWR Forums Discord / Re: NEXT GEN DOESN'T START TIL I SAY IT DOES

« on: June 21, 2013, 10:05:31 AM »

wii u ain't next gen

Next gen's not gonna be a big graphical boost. It really isn't. The big jump is gonna be all that game->wireless video stream magical goodness. And the Wii U does it.

Kinda.

28

NWR Forums Discord / Can we be a SHADY politician in the next Animal Crossing?

« on: June 21, 2013, 10:03:53 AM »

'cause I would eminent-domain the **** out of Tom Nook's home 'n business.

29

General Gaming / Re: If I were to get someone into the more "hardcore" video games...

« on: June 21, 2013, 10:02:49 AM »

> If I were to get someone into the more "hardcore" video games...

You're literally NAMED after one.

30

General Gaming / Re: XB1 : It's not about how good your internet connection is

« on: June 19, 2013, 07:58:09 PM »

Okay, let's clarify.

1. Microsoft deserves real credit for this. Yes, the old idea was horrifyingly bad. They fixed it. I mean, seriously, they fixed it. It might have been low pre-order sales, or just the general discussion, but it got fixed. I have a feeling that I'm gonna stop listening to most of my gaming podcasts halfway in when the gang-bash arrives.

2. I'm still not in. But that's more for my personal reasons, as in all honesty this was.

- No controller backwards compatibility (this may change, hopefully). Same plug, same button count, same input capability. Rumble on triggers does not sell me ~$120-$180 in new controllers. It would be nice if it DID have this feature, because that would force them to implement actual value into the new generation of controllers.
- No games backwards compat. For OG Xbox games it's ridiculous given the CPU. As such, this may change, at least for games purchased online. For Xbox 360 games they better have something planned. A plugin, a dual-capable version, a portable Xbox 360 with HDMI, I don't care, they need this problem resolved with more than just "buy a system we'll stop making in another couple years", because that's the same as "rebuy your games on PC and don't put up with this anymore".
- No clear separation of shop 'n games. Yes, the "ads" situation. I have no problem with advertisements. I LOVE trailers. I rush to get to my movie on time because I WANT 20 minutes of commercials for more movies. The shop should be a place I WANT to go to on my own. I know it is in Steam. Making the core interface a pain in the ass to navigate because you found a seamless way to integrate ads is not an acceptable trade-off. It hasn't been since the pile of mess that was NXE.
- The games. That's really it at the end of the day. I'm not a big Halo fan. Nearly every game I've fallen in love with on the 360 either got a better PS3 release or ended up on PC. I have tons of games, and I'm in no rush for the latest and greatest, so a PC release delay has no bearing on my decision to stick with that platform.

That said, realistically, it's going to be the system I recommend to friends and family. Unless Sony releases a $500 PS4+Vita bundle, the XBwn is a better value. **** "smart TV", this is a goddamn neuroscientist TV.

31

General Chat / Re: Confession time: I am seriously depressed and I feel alone

« on: June 19, 2013, 07:21:33 AM »

Remember, I didn't just mean psychologists. If you have options to see a medical doctor, check with one as well. Just because you've had traumatic events doesn't mean you should rule out a condition that it's bringing out.

> I know this is just the stupid angst of an angry 18 year old who's problems are probably less severe than what you are facing, but it's all I know. Please understand that.

I hope it's just that. In any case like this we can all hope it's just that, because that one can be healed by time. I'm not the judging type, especially for depression. But please, make sure it's "just" that.

You're young. And I don't mean, "you're young, so what you're going through isn't important", or even "you're young, you'll think this is silly in a few years". You're young, and a lot of the things that can significant effect on your state of mind, even at 18, are still in development. You're at one of the most dangerous periods of life for anyone, statistically speaking. Talk to people, take care of yourself, do something. Don't ever let yourself fall into a lonely cycle of self-discussion. I'm sure there's plenty of people here who can speak from experience that this will not help your mental health.

Also, if it helps, so far as I've ascertained, psychologists don't psychoanalyze you unless they're dipshits still in college for psychology. If they're being paid by the hour, chances are they're looking for a cause. But again, I'm definitely in the "medical experience > psychological experience" by an order of magnitude, so please check with a medical doctor, first.

32

NWR Forums Discord / Stop!

« on: June 19, 2013, 07:10:23 AM »

Collaborate and LISTEN!
- Navi

33

General Gaming / Re: Lindemann Syndrome Anonymous (LSA)

« on: June 19, 2013, 07:05:34 AM »

Did you really have to start this up less than three weeks from the next Steam sale?

Steam calculator's got me at $2,500.

http://steamdb.info/calculator/?player=mukiex&currency=us

Games owned: 200
Games not played: 143

Do I win? I think I won.

34

General Gaming / Re: Which of the Next Gen console UI's stand out to you the most.

« on: June 18, 2013, 03:14:55 AM »

I've probably made it moderately clear as to why I'm not getting an Xbox.

I could probably write another wall of texts about why I don't like the way they handle ads. Seriously, a wall. Who knows, I just might. They don't spark off much discussion though, so I'll hold off for now.


The Xbox One has the best interface. By far. Unequivocal. Orders of magnitude better. Etc.

Okay, so let's explain why.

1. Integration. Very few of us own multiple consoles. Probably tons of the people who visit message boards and listen to gaming podcasts, but nationwide, the number is slim (note: old story):
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=18107
The thing is, that the television is still used, monumentally, to watch TV, and consoles are encroaching on that. Nintendo and Sony are offering options to offshoot that experience to another screen, and for gamers, that's a boon, but most people won't know about it or care.
The Xbox One will basically disappear until it's needed, and I'm not sure enough people understand the impact of that seamless an interface.

2. Wow factor. No question that a bunch of Apple TV's get sold because the word "Apple" is on the box. Likewise, 25 million copies of NSMBW went out the door because "Mario" was one of those letters. This does not in any way invalidate that, much like how Nintendo knows how to make a good fucking game, Apple knows how to make a good fucking interface. The interface on that hockey puck makes pretty much all "Smart TV" sets on the market look like 90's WebTV bullshit.

The thing that most technically-adept people don't understand is the interface divide. For you and I, the interface is PART of a piece of software. It's PART of a device.

To the mass fucking market, the interface IS the device. It comprises every single interaction with the machine they experience. There is nothing to them BUT that interface. And the one on the XB1 is nearly absurd in how brilliantly designed it is.

Every time someone visits a buddy's house to watch the game and they see just how ridiculously seamlessly they go from a commercial break to burning a few minutes in CoD/Halo/Destiny/Battlefield/etc. (I guarantee you, there will be commercial-break-length modes in FPSs inside of a YEAR because of this effect), Microsoft will sell a system. They're going to sell a lot of these systems, price be damned, because of that "wow" effect.

(as a counterpoint, we'll see if the extra $100 and Kinect setup work against them on this point, let alone houses without internet that take this thing home.)

3. Again, that integration. Seriously, you have no idea how powerful it's going to be to know that you can just leave the Xbox One on the primary input, especially for one-system households (see above: this is MOST households). It will almost feel strange to people after a few months to have to ever switch out to another port. Spouses/Family Members/Roomates might not even notice that the Xbox is still one while they're watching TV, unless it's to switch to it for Netflix/Hulu/etc.

Again, I've made it clear, I have (1)zero interest in this console. That said, I think, undoubtedly, if for nothing but the first year, it's going to be WAY out ahead in sales.

1. http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=41953.0

35

General Chat / Re: Confession time: I am seriously depressed and I feel alone

« on: June 18, 2013, 02:55:06 AM »

This one's a bit general, but I seriously hope it helps someone. Anyone.

GET HELP. This has probably been all over the place, but there's more to it than that.

Look at things analytically, if you need to. Depression is about on par with "my stomach hurts" as far as symptoms are concerned, in that it could be ANYTHING.

You might feel empty inside.
You might feel sadness.
You might feel an epitimal feeling as if your life has been a failure up to this point with NOTHING objective to back it up (good job, great time with family/friends, never feel physically sick, etc.)

And as a result, the cause could be anything:
You could have social issues
You could have a treatable chemical imbalance
You might be having a reaction from a recent, seemingly trivial dietary change
.... or environmental.

If you have ANY medical and therapeutic options, LOOK THEM UP. If you just feel like life is crappy, you can work on that. If you feel that you can't explain why you feel this way, HAVE IT LOOKED IT. The problem with attempting to diagnose a problem that may be in your brain is that it's in YOUR BRAIN. Your ability to ascertain the root cause IS NOT RELIABLE. Please, for the sake of yourself, and anyone close to you that you care about, get an independent opinion.

And, realistically, (especially if any of them spout silly fucking bullshit like "what do you have to be depressed about") not from fucking family or friends. Unless their training says otherwise, they're no more qualified to treat depression than they are to treat a fucking ulcer.

</PSA>

36

NWR Forums Discord / Re: NEXT GEN DOESN'T START TIL I SAY IT DOES

« on: June 17, 2013, 06:34:42 AM »

Next exercisvely overwise generation-defining terms? We're bringing back GIGAFLOPS. Only now it's about GPUs, where the number lands a little more credence.

Quick score sheet, moving forward:

PS4: 1840
XB1: 1230
WiU: ~350

XB360: 240
PS3: 176
PSV: ~60-75

Wii/3DS: ~N/A (No shaders)

iPhone4S/iPad2: ~20
iPhone5: ~25
iPad4: ~75

Tegra 3: ~7 (insert sad trombone)
Tegra 4: ~96 ('bout goddamn time)

37

Nintendo Gaming / New Leaf layout tips?

« on: June 17, 2013, 06:13:50 AM »

I just started my game, but now I'm stuck pondering over the town layout.

This is my first Animal Crossing game. Anything in specific I should shoot for in terms of house placement?

38

General Gaming / XB1 : It's not about how good your internet connection is

« on: June 15, 2013, 10:55:43 AM »

Okay, I'll get a couple things outta the way:
- If I get a PS4, it'll be to play those games on Vita.
- When I get a Wii U, it'll be to play Mario rehashes and Smash
- I have zero plans to get an Xbox One
-- I think it'll probably be the most successful console this generation, and people are seriously underestimating how ridiculously brilliant that UI looks. It makes the competition look like Smart TVs.
-- I don't even really think that their setup is bad. I'm just clarifying here why I'll never hop on myself.

Okay, I'm only jotting this down because I'm getting really tired of seeing the discussion fall to:
"Well not everyone has a great internet connection"
"What about our soldiers?"
"What if I need to sell my games?"
"How is it any different from Steam?"

And I hate this direction because it's easy to come up with interim solutions, and it detours the most glaring issue:

The DRM scheme the Xbox One is using for games is a bad idea, and it serves no purpose.

So let's do this categorically.

Number One: It's not about how good your internet connection is. I could live in a fucking Tier 1 datacenter and it wouldn't matter. We could have a magical wireless internet that worked in the center of the earth and this would STILL be a bad idea.

Number Two: It's nothing like Steam. We accept Steam's DRM requirement of being occassionally connected because it's on a PC. It's essentially an open system. You connect a USB drive, or a memory card, or some wacky SSH/FTP mount, and it's storage. You can copy anything to that storage. There's nothing stopping you from moving bits from point A to point B under any and all circumstances. Keeping you from making bootleg copies of a purchased program is a viable challenge. Consoles aren't working in that ecosystem. This problem doesn't exist in that world; they're completely closed off to prodding. They have copy protection that every non-interactive entertainment industry has wet dreams about. THEY DO NOT NEED TO PHONE HOME TO KEEP CONTENT SAFE FROM PIRACY.

Number Three: "Always-On" internet connectivity is a great thing. It's a fantastic idea. "Required-On" connectivity is pointless. Always-On means that you can build a content that has your games patched before you get home. It means your inbox will always be up to date. It means you can get instant access to impending developments as they happen. NONE of these features logically transition to a situation where a lack of connection breaks all locally stored content, and it's not really okay to act like they do.

Bonus Example: iPhones and Android phones COME with the internet. When you buy one, you buy a service plan that, 99.99% of the time, includes a data plan. Internet access is intrinsic to nearly EVERYTHING that those devices do, and somehow there is not a SINGLE one of these devices on the planet whose apps, books, photos, music and/or movies saved internally suddenly lock themselves away from you if that connection (or their servers) disappears for ANY length of time.

In finale, the core problem is better explained by paraphrasing Penny Arcade:
The moment they decide it's not worth it anymore your entire fucking library will evaporate.
(http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2013/05/13)


The last device that had this requirement was DIVX. Joke about its failures, but some people did purchase DIVX movies, and none of those purchases exist anymore.

Time to go grandiose and anvilicious. At the end of the day, these things are art. They are an art form, and this setup has been engineered to destroy our ability, as a SOCIETY to preserve it. And for what? It's not even to prevent piracy; they solved that problem over six years ago. It's to circumvent first sale doctrine.

If you don't see that as disgusting at its core, I'm not sure what else I can tell you.

39

General Gaming / Re: What are you playing?

« on: June 08, 2013, 09:56:09 AM »

I'm burning through Platinum The Trinity's challenge mode in BlazBlue on my Vita. I might also wrap up the more difficult stages in Gabrielle's Ghostly Groove...
....

.....

DON'T JUDGE ME.

40

General Gaming / Re: I want to build a PC and run every good and maybe the next gen stuff. Advice?

« on: June 07, 2013, 07:50:04 PM »

Well, $30 past your budget wall of $599.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html
CPU is at the top of the chart. The graphics chip is essentially a rebranded 6750 (same as the one in your sub-$500 rig), which is three tiers above the PS3's graphis chip, meaning you can play any current games with slightly nicer settings.
It'll play this generation's games fine. It's about on part with the Wii U for graphics capabilities, so you'll probably be able to play most next-gen games, though they might be paired down.
Nothing's future-proof in computers, so if you find yourself really enjoying using a PC over a console, wait a couple years before you look into upgrading it. Right now a Radeon 7970 will decimate what this fall's consoles can do, but it costs about as much as your entire computer. In two years, when you'll probably want something that compares, a comparable card will probably be less than half that much.

41

General Gaming / Re: I want to build a PC and run every good and maybe the next gen stuff. Advice?

« on: June 07, 2013, 06:19:26 PM »

EDIT: MY SUGGESTION IS AT THE BOTTOM.

Low budget, won't build it yourself, AND you're in a hurry?

I'm going to make it clear: Nobody builds PCs right now for gamers under a grand. The ones that have video cards under that price range are going to be very low-end: You'll have trouble running games above the 360/PS3 level, and even that level might be a stretch.

Your best bet on a low budget and inability to build is to wait for a computer to go into closeout or clearance; being in a hurry isn't going to help this method.

Again, $200 on a decent video card and $400 to scrape together everything else is the best bang you're gonna get for your buck. Otherwise it will be not be a great computer.

If you cannot wait longer to buy it, and you can't build it, and you can't get something in the ~$1000 range, my suggestion is to use the time between now and the 12 to comparison shop. Take a look at these two charts:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html

Find something that ranks as high as you can manage in both lists. Look around on Amazon, Newegg, Google shopping, your local stores (print the first page of each chart out), and try to find something that'll fit your budget.

> There has only been one announced so far

Key point there. We don't know what anyone else has planned for this platform. It's like seeing the Samsung 9 series and assuming that Ultrabooks will never be inexpensive.

EDIT: I did NOT know we were lookin' through refurbished PCs, my bad. Here's my suggestion. At your budget, get this. No, seriously, get it. Yes, it's worth the extra $30. :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883256785

Don't bother with a more expensive machine. If this doesn't keep up 2-4 years from now, get a $100 power supply (750w and up) and a $200 video card, and you'll be able to play whatever's out at the time at amazing settings.

42

General Gaming / Re: Why don't games use photo-digitized textures?

« on: June 07, 2013, 10:53:10 AM »

Keep in mind that most games using "photo digitized" textures are usually either drawn from scratch to match the photo or HEAVILY edited. If you want the PEAK of this method though, look at a scene from L.A. Noir. That said, there's the strangest uncanny valley in the disconnect between those perfect faces and those rather imperfect bodies around them.

Tons of games digitize real people. Just look at Starkiller and the guy who played Doomsday in Smallville. Same guy and it shows. I'm sure a lot of studios don't for the same reason that Pixar won't use Mo-cap and Rotoscoping gets looked down upon occasionally: It feels like a "cheap" method.

43

General Gaming / Re: I want to build a PC and run every good and maybe the next gen stuff. Advice?

« on: June 07, 2013, 10:48:28 AM »

Hopefully this pointers'll help:

- Keep in mind that the tradeoff of not having to deal with tech support for individual parts (e.g. buying pre-built) is a pretty steep drop in "bang-for-buck", especially for gaming rigs. Look for clearance sales.

- My best suggestion is to go "hybrid built". e.g. buy a decent desktop for ~$400-500 and spend another $1-200 on a decent video card. If you're doing this, don't go for a big video card, your cheaper desktop might not have the power (smaller is better). Geforce 550 or Radeon 7770 is probably a good bet.

- WAIT WAIT WAIT. Valve's planning on launching a variety of Steam boxes this fall, between them and a few of their partners. I'd honestly tell you to wait to see how these turn out. All will be made for gaming and most will be made for a budget, so you might find something you like.

Assuming the Steam boxes hit, a few key suggestions:

- If there's some with Windows, GO FOR IT. I know we all hate Windows 8, but they're going to work with nearly all PC games.
- Don't hesitate to tack an extra $2-300 for a Steam box vs an XB1 or PS4 if the graphics compare favorably. You'll make it up in two years' worth of Steam sales (July & January, usually). Never mind that you can catch up on PC ports of any games you missed.
- If you're really into console gaming, SUPPORT CAPCOM. I can't stress this enough, they're really the only publisher from moontown that's offering honest support for PC releases.

CONTROLLERS:

If you own Xbox 360 remotes, invest in this:
http://www.amazon.com/HDE-Wireless-Receiver-compatible-Xbox-controller/dp/B0096PLB9O/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1370616128&sr=8-5&keywords=xbox+adapter
Works with up to 4 wireless remotes, and most games will automagically pick it up. Note that if the official driver doesn't work for you, you probably got a bootleg unit (most are, Microsoft discontinued them). Your (sadly slightly hoaky) solution:
http://www.selfsimilar.org/2011/07/counterfeit-xbox-360-wireless-receiver-drivers/comment-page-1/

If you own Wiimotes or PS3 remotes, pick up one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/IOGEAR-Bluetooth-Micro-Adapter-GBU521/dp/B007GFX0PY/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1370616416&sr=8-7&keywords=bluetooth+usb
It pairs bluetooth headsets as well.  Pick up MotionJoy to get it working wirelessly with controllers. FAR hoakier than the Xbox option, again, sadly.

EDIT: I did NOT know we were lookin' through refurbished PCs, my bad. Here's my suggestion. At your budget, get this. No, seriously, get it. Yes, it's worth the extra $30. :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883256785

Don't bother with a more expensive machine. If this doesn't keep up 2-4 years from now, get a $100 power supply (750w and up) and a $200 video card, and you'll be able to play whatever's out at the time at amazing settings.

44

General Gaming / Re: What is your most recent gaming purchase?

« on: May 20, 2013, 12:53:06 PM »

 Brand new iCade: $30 (at The XChange)
Gabrielle's Ghostly Groove: $20 (e-shop)

45

General Gaming / Re: I want to build a PC and run every good and maybe the next gen stuff. Advice?

« on: May 15, 2013, 08:30:28 AM »

Guys, this isn't hard. First, buy the cheapest CPU on the top row (Probably i5 2500K, get a non-K if you're doing Linux with emulation):
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html

Do your cross-comparison in Amazon.com and Newegg.com, and if you don't know how to, learn how to middle-click and use tabs. Also Newegg probably has a comparison tool.

Then get the highest one you can get in your price range (I'd recommend Radeon 7870 or Geforce 660):
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html
Do NOT spend too much on a video card. You're far better off spending $200 now and $200 again in two years than spending $400 now.

Get your RAM in 8GB sticks (starting with at least 1), and remember which speed you got (1300, 1600, etc.). Look to get another stick in the next 3 or so months, same speed. Repeat until you're comfortable or until you have 32 gigs. This'll "future-proof" your PC in more ways than most people think. 16-24 should be more than fine, if RAM gets too expensive in the future. Please trust me on this one. I could go on for hours about how almost everything about having "more than enough" RAM is bullshit.

For EVERYTHING else (e.g. case, RAM, motherboard, etc.) read the reviews. Don't get the cheapest case, but don't go crazy. Look in the reviews to make sure the inside of your case isn't razor sharp, and that your motherboard isn't riddled with funky bugs. Make sure you graphics card doesn't have overheating problems.

46

General Gaming / On why I love the tales series... [Wall 'o text warning]

« on: May 15, 2013, 07:06:26 AM »

So first off, a warning: I write walls of text. A lot. They may not be particularly cohesive, so please skip on if rants give you migraines. =3


My dissapointment about the "Tales" segment on Connectivity a few months back stemmed mainly from the fact that there was very little discourse regarding the actual game mechanics, and this is part and parcel what MAKES these games. Whatmore, much like the Bourne movies (legacy notwithstanding), the formula is so tightly knit that we go into sequels with FULL KNOWLEDGE that we're getting more of the same with a different story skin (though I could easily go on about how good Vesperia's story was).


I realize that many people have glanced over other people's shoulders at this game series and wondered just why there's such a fevor amongst its fanbase. So with that, I give you:


Why I love the Tales series.
(umm, starting from Symphonia).

Okay, so this is gonna be a running theme: Tales games to most JRPGs (the Final Fantasies in particular) are very much like Eternal Darkness is to Resident Evil: The budgets are much smaller but the focus on gameplay results in a far more pleasurable experience. (note: A very self-professed Tales Whore is making that statement. You may need a packet or small jar of salt to swallow it.)


1. Items you'll actually use.
Generally speaking, health/mana restoration items in RPGs fit into a very "junk/jewelry" mentality really early on. Health restoration items don't scale with your health, and you burn through the ranks of them pretty quickly. Combined with the post-battle group health casting that becomes standard 10-20 hours in, and the health potions pretty quickly get relagated to the junk drawer.
Magic restoration is the opposite. They're either so ridiculously expensive (being 10-100x the price of the health-restoring items) or so rare (being outright unbuyable, and only showing up half a dozen times over the course of hte adventure) that you pretty much hoard them up to the ending credits. Just like jewelry, most of them stay locked away, and only find use on special ocassions.
So the Tales/Star Ocean series fixes this problem quickly and sucinctly. One, all items scale. HP and MP (or TP or SP, or whatever they're calling it nowadays) restoring items restore a percentage of the resource. Meaning, the potion you bought an hour is is just as useful in the final boss battle. The trade-off? Item cap of 15-20. This means you can't just spam these items in battle, and still have to use them stategically. But you will use them.


2. Casters and fighters stay neck 'n neck.
This RPG flaw isn't J- specific, and has probably been around for as long as the term RPG has existed, as it started in D&D. May I present you with: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards
This is by far the biggest source of annoyance in role playing games. Fighters are cool and all, but if you want an experience that stays fun for more than a day, you go with magic casters. In a party system, this means your fighters eventually fall to the "waiter" roll of dolling out items because you're not gonna waste your summoner's turn with trivial stuff like that. While there's always new spells to learn, your combat specialists don't go far beyond *"attack".
For this one, the Tales series basically pulled things straight out of anime (or possibly fighting games) in giving the swordmaster a variety of special attacks, and combat mechanics around linking them into a variety of combs. Heck, some of them even get healing attacks, making them just as versatile as your spellcasters while being significantly more mobile.
And that's another thing...


3. The party "dynamic".
Most RPGs have the concept of defending instead of attacking on a given turn, and most of them teach you early on to put your weaker spellcasters in the "back row" of your party, and your attackers up front.
Is it just me, or does the difference in both instances so negligible that it almost doesn't matter?
In the SNES era, the difference between defending and just taking a hit after attacking was so minuscule that you might as well call the defend option "skip this turn". There were entire swaths of games where my healer would be in the front row because it just didn't make that much of a difference as far as damage was concerned (especially when enemies started casting spells), simply because they accidentally fell into the front row and it didn't matter enough to change.
Sooooo, here's where the Tales series makes a monumental improvement in the formula.
Spellcasters don't just insta-cast when their turn comes up. They open up a magic circle beneath them (signifying a spell is being cast) and then cast it after a few seconds. While this timespan can be sped-up, it does take time. And if they get hit by a significant degree, that spell is interrupted. Blocking attacks usually results in taking significantly less damage (170 vs, say, 20). Between the two of these, not only do you now have fighters and spellcasters on equal footing (each with their own strengths and weaknesses), they now need to work together. A fighter's job, in part, is to actively look out for their spell casters and intercept enemies making a beeline for them to assure that their area-smashing lightning spell, or their party-saving healing spell, actually gets cast. Whatmore it also forces the players to make judgement calls, as they need to decide on dealing with a knight now or taking a couple of hits in order to intercept the enemy mages.


4. Real-Time Battle
I'll have to hold off on this one in any major depth, because I could write a page centered entirely around "how not to hate real-time combat", but this one I think is more left up to personal taste. I personally like taking a fully active role in my combat, to me, turn-based feels a bit archaic (I say this, having just burned +150 hours in Disgaea 3...), and far more importantly, I like fighting games. Fighters and RPGs are by far my two favorite genres, and any game that combines the two tends to be seen favorably in my eyes.
But I'll leave it at, the battles are real-time, meaning you move and attack in ways pretty similar to adventure games or, as previously mentioned, fighting games. And the Tales series, especially from Symphonia on, bring a few elements to the table that make it far more enjoyable a combat style than, say, Star Ocean (Which I could also write at length about).


5. A whole mess of story... if you want it.
So my biggest complaint about Golden Sun, and this becomes especially jarring if you try playing it again, is that the game had a truck-load of dialogue for a game where, story-wise, not a whole lot really happened. I mean, you could take the average 5-minute a-button-tapping jamborie in that game and condense it into about a sentence's worth of information.
This is a common issue with a lot of J-RPGs. You want to tell your story, but you also want there to be a lot of inter-character dialogue. You want your characters to feel like real, fleshed-out human beings. The problem is that animation is expensive. So chances are, you're going to have to make a decision, budget-wise: You can either have a few scenes where your characters have believable expressions and solid acting, or you can have a BUCKET-TON of dialogue, and more character depth to go with it, at the expense of a lot of "porcelain doll syndrome", or what a friend of mine affectionately calls "The Squeenix Valley". This ruined Star Ocean 4 for me.
The Tales series came up with a storytelling mechanic that finds a solid compromise for this problem. Basically, at various points in the game, you'll get a quick "story segment", that is 100% optional, that you'll get from pressing the start/select/back/etc. button when the prompt for the scene comes up. You get a brief dialogue, usually text-only, between 2D portraits of the characters. Usually they'll have animated mouths, and their expressions will change as the sequence demands it. They're 100% character pieces, which basically lets you experience all the intra-story banter between your party members, and usually only reiterates or reinforces major parts of the story itself. You might even get funny bits about characters you'd never **see or guess otherwise.
The magic, is, of course, that they're all optional. This becomes increasingly noticeable when you realize that a 2nd run-through of the game takes you half as long as the first one did, EXP boosts notwithstanding. It lets you keep all the fun parts of playing a long adventure, without forcing you to sit through multiple instances of the minutia. Now if only they'd allow you to skip what few dialogue sequences remain, especially ones that precede boss battles.


6. Cooking!
I'll leave this one brief. I could write up a list of "Stuff Tales games do right", which I think I've just about done here, but this one is a cute work-around to an issue that comes up with point #1. Fact is, while the item dynamic works really well during battle, it leaves you with an issue about dwindling resources over the course of a long dungeon. So they came up with the concept of cooking, which allows you to put together a meal after every fight. As you can store MANY different kinds of ingredients, this allows you to stay on top of keeping your health and mana at a moderate level without having to constantly use your precious "gels" (the health/mana-restoring items). As you can't eat food while IN combat, it makes for a way to keep combat exciting while limiting dungeon fatigue. Whatmore, it creates a whole new gameplay mechanic in learning recipes and figuring out who the best cooks in your party are while enjoying a practical side benefit in improving your dungeon and exploring stamina.


7. The last brick in this wall of text.
So yeah, that, in my opinion, is what gets people enamored with this series. While the gameplay has stayed pretty steady/familiar since the initial Gamecube offering, that core foundation is so well tuned, and the formulas that lead into it so solid, that picking up entries in the franchise is now pretty much a given for me (got my pre-order set for the idiotic collector's edition of Xillia the day I found out it existed). I could go at length into things that Symphonia specifically did that I really wish would come back to the serie (like the brilliant anti-maze dungeon designs), but I'll save that wall for another day.
*I've played a lot of FFs, so yes, I know there's other skills for those types of jobs, but for the most part, they're either spellcasting with a REALLY low spell list ceiling or getting skills which enhance what "attack" does.
** Like finding out that Yuri Lowell is really into catgirls.


(Modified a whole mess of times because the forum software did funny things to my formatting)

47

General Gaming / Re: Backwards Compatibility - Good or Bad?

« on: February 24, 2013, 09:52:24 AM »

Backwards compatibility is an easy choice: Yes.
Consoles have 4-7 year life cycles at this point. By the time you hit the end-of-life, the entirety of the last gen's system fits on a rather tiny system-on-a-chip, that, at the end of the day, isn't expensive. Most of the other big expenses from the last gen, e.g. storage, you're gonna need anyway.
So why yes? Simple: Make your system an easier choice.
The PS2 was a dead-simple choice. Controllers worked, games worked, power plug worked, hell, even the video cable worked. It was a straight-up box replacement. You put your PS1 box in storage, you connect the PS2 to the exact same cables.
The Wii was the exact same way save for power/AV. Gamecube goes out, Wii goes in.
The thing is, you remove some of the choice from the matter. For the average Wii gamer, switching to the U once you've spent the money is dead-easy. Even with the Virtual Console shenanagans, there's something to be said about the peace of mind achieved from not having to turn on the old system for any reason, even nostalgia. It makes installing the new system easier.
Then comes the actual money advantages. If you do your backwards-compatibility RIGHT, you can start selling digital copies of your old games. For any company with established franchises, this is free money. Think about it. You burn through the next Zelda game and suddenly you get that nostalgia craving for the older titles. It should be ARBITRARY at that point to buy them all at your liesure.
This, I think, is Nintendo's biggest failing, and Sony's from the looks of it. They look at backwards compatibility as a revenue drain (why buy new games when I can play all the old ones?) instead of another revenue stream(why scrounge Gamestop's bargain bin when I can look through a buncha classics on the eshop/PSN? ) Heck, the first thing to die in a new console generation are a good deal of estabilished franchises that have trouble making the jump to higher requirements for graphics and gameplay that a new gen brings. Why not make it TRIVIAL for the customer base that ENJOYS the latest edition of your fantasy/sci-fi/shootin'/strategy/whocares epic to go back and see where it all started?
The thing is, consoles are closed platforms. Once a system generation is over, if production stops, any official avenues to a GENERATION of games become flaky. It's why I'm less inclined to pick up console versions of games I can find on Steam. I'm not sure, but I can imagine that consumers are becoming more aware of this. You'll note that even on Apple products, so long as you stay in the eco-system most of the dozens of apps you bought still work fine years later, and maybe even look nicer on the new device. Without backwards compatibility, a new generation is essentially starting from ZERO, and companies who don't see this are doing a diservice to both their customer base and themselves.
I could go on about this for pages but I'll cut the rant off there.

48

General Chat / Re: On the Wii U's CPU

« on: December 04, 2012, 06:27:17 AM »

Doesn't the short pipeline and the 32mb of fast RAM compensate?

EVERY other console on the market is running on a Power-based RISC processor, so not really. Fast RAM isn't quite as fast in 2012.


Graphically, the embedded RAM on the graphics chip is gloriously fantastic. It was a great idea on the Gamecube (poorly implemented on the PS2 so we won't talk about that), it's what lets the Xbox 360 keep up with the PS3 (despite technically, and only technically, having a slower GPU), and it'll bite anyone who doesn't invest in the idea come next gen HARD.


Clock-for-clock (so comparing per-mhz the Wii U to the 360/PS3), the Wii U has a better base processor. It has features missing from the other two that have been in processors since the bloody Pentium Pro. So mhz for mhz, it's faster. However, we're not going mhz vs mhz, we're going 1.2 x 3 VS 3.2 x 3 (yes, the 360 has three cores).


We're also talking about some extra features on the 360's CPU and the PS3's (the Cell's SPUs) that do not exist on the Wii U. Once again, you could write the same functions into graphics code, and because the RAM is shared between CPU and RAM, you could probably do this without any performance hit.


BUT, this kind of code doesn't really exist yet (or it sure as hell isn't common, as the Wii U is the first hardware to have this capability save for the AMD Fusion processor and a FAAAAR weaker/limited/probably-not-useful variant in the 360), and the way they've been doing it on the other two has had 5-6 years to mature.


I can't say I'm all that worried. The only games that are really gonna take a hit are ones that are CPU-bound, and regardless of what you saw at launch, that is the exception more than the rule. Games have always been mostly GPU-bound. What we saw in terms of launch was a launch lineup without much in the way of the more hardcore optimizations listed.


The fact of the matter is that we're on the precipice of using the shaders in a GPU to assist greatly in game logic. The way the next Xbox is designed, I can guarantee you we'll see that, and it's going to trickle-down to the Wii U. The drop from those consoles will not be anywhere near as bad is it was this gen, and not only because the Wii can output in high definition. What we'll have is a system with decent processors and a useful graphics chip going up against more expensive boxes with faster chips, and given how much of this generation was PC-like in games development, we'll probably land in a spot where the Wii is what they target for lower-end gaming rigs, and the next systems is where they drop off the higher-res stuff. So the difference is gonna amount to sliders in the PC version, rather than drasticly different ports by a different studio with little-if-any resemblance to the "mainline" version of a title.


Plus Nintendo stuff is gonna look SIIIIICK =3


--- Also, I still stand by my H.264 comment. Check out the WiiMC stuff, most of the videos they have running in 480p under H264 are Youtube clips, which have VERY low bitrates at a VERY simple profile and is all but violently removed from the version of that codec that goes into high definition vids outside of Youtube.

49

General Chat / On the Wii U's CPU

« on: December 03, 2012, 06:50:19 AM »

So I'm not sure that I'm entirely knowledgable enough to discuss this, or if I'm even in the right place, but I figured I'd drop my $0.02 in rather than yell at the podcast.


The bad? The CPU is really as bad as it looks. It's basically three overclocked Wiis, and without that graphics chip, it can't even play high def video. (Key technical point: The Wii's CPU cannot handle the h.264 codec, a popular Blu-Ray codec, in standard definition. 1080p is a little under six times that, so I will stand by my point)


The good? It probably doesn't matter as much as it appears to. The CPU's main weakness (aside from the low clock rate) is a complete lack of SIMD units. Basically, SIMD units are like mini-processors that let CPUs handle work far beyond what they're normally capable of. They're what allow the PS3 to stream video to the PSP, or even just decode Blu-Ray for that matter.


It's something that, more than likely, the Wii U's graphics chip can pick up the slack for and then some. Since about two Ati generations after the 360 (and one Nvidia gen after the PS3), graphics chips have been able to handle SIMD-like workloads by themselves. Problem on the PC is that for them to handle anything not graphics oriented (like hair, cloth, and liquid physics that we're starting to see in games like Borderlands 2), you basically have to bounce data back and forth between your main ram and graphics ram, which slows things down enough to not be worth it.


On the Wii U there's no such separation. It's all one memory bank, and I'm sure it won't take long for Epic (among other devs) to start implementing the sharing of some workloads between the two chips, if for no other reason than to take advantages of current and upcoming developments in hardware (AMD's Fusion chips, the next Xbox). That said, there's no way they were gonna get something like that ready for launch (and even if they did, games in development would be using much older versions of their engines by then. See Madden).


Without any GPGPU (using a graphics chip for CPU purposes) code in launch titles, developers basically have an Xbox 360 CPU with zero optimizations and close to a third the clock rate, and it shows. Assuming Epic and Ubisoft optimize their engines to snatch a little extra computing power from the GPU, it should look substantially different next year.


That said, the Wii U WILL be a pretty big step down from the 2013-on systems from Sony & Microsoft, but it won't be anywhere NEAR as much of a disparity as the Wii had to deal with. It's only slower, whereas the Wii just outright didn't have functionality that PC devs had been used to for five years by the time it launched. (Basically, graphics shader tech) If you want a comparison point, compare Doom 3 on the original Xbox to the BFG edition that came out this year on 360. It'll be closer to that.

Edit note: I am never writing a wall of text rant on my iPad ever again.

50

General Gaming / Re: Which modern Sonic game best replicated the Genesis games?

« on: August 25, 2012, 03:01:06 AM »

Sonic Rush, in my opinion, seems to be the only title that truly struck the fine balance the original Genesis games accomplished.

I think what's hurt that franchise the most is that Sega seems to not really know what the hell made those games enjoyable. While Nintendo's building a Mario effin' learning course, it really feels like Sega drops a team into a room, tells them they're making sonic, and leaves a design doc that consists of a picture of the blue hedgehog and a lazily written "Make him run fast" underneath.

What's most aggravating about Sonic's modern incarnation is that the dev cycle seems to go like this.

Step 1. Make Sonic move fast. Super fast. Turn the game into "hold up and occasionally jump".
Step 2. Holy ****, our year of level construction has turned into a 45-minute game. We can't afford a one-day return cycle to Gamestop!
Step 3 (Sonic Adventure 1). Let's add a bunch of characters that move really slowly, have them go through levels that are no longer interesting because they were meant as splitzy speed-run showcases rather than, you know, challenges.
Step 4 (Every 3D Sonic and a good chunk of 2D Sonics since). Holy ****, that didn't work. Let's make all that stuff mandatory.

Sonic being fast was and still is fun. What made Sonic games on the Genesis fun wasn't Sonic blasting past everything, it was the balance of platform challenges that was strategically intermixed with short sequences of Sonic running really fast, and I think Sega's seriously lost sight of that. Probably doesn't help that Yuji Naka left.

- Sonic 4 had a really dirty "Scrappy level", and broken physics they didn't backport when episode 2 launched and fixed them. Nobody likes mine cart stages as it is, and Sega found a way to make them MORE frustrating?
- Sonic Advance didn't particularly strike my fancy, see step 4.
- I've only seen those classic Sonic levels on Youtube, where they look like a 2D version of Step 1.