Author Topic: Episode 138: Recovery  (Read 2155 times)

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Offline NWR_Neal

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Episode 138: Recovery
« on: June 22, 2014, 05:08:09 AM »

Non-tendo E3 reactions and some Pushmo World talk!

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/connectivity/37897/episode-138-recovery

Hello and welcome to Connectivity! We're still recovering from E3 around here, but we do have a packed show for you.

First, Scott and Neal talk about the just-released Pushmo World. The guys go over how the 3DS standout makes the jump to Wii U and whether Pushmo-experts should take the plunge. Also, if you are playing the game and making your own puzzles, send the QR codes to us! We'll play them and talk about them on another episode. Extra marks if you make a Connectivity puzzle.

After that, Addison and Alex return to E3 with a look at the non-tendo conferences. Microsoft, Sony, Ubisoft, EA; they go through each conference and discuss what impressed them. Then they do a little Nintendo reflection, too.

Be sure to click here to send us your listener mail. We got a lot of great reaction mail that we're going to read next week, so be sure to get your thoughts in, too! See you then!

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Offline azeke

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Re: Episode 138: Recovery
« Reply #1 on: June 23, 2014, 03:35:22 AM »
Donkey Kong 94 is god tier.
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Offline ClexYoshi

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Re: Episode 138: Recovery
« Reply #2 on: June 23, 2014, 04:18:05 AM »
I think Alex Culafi really did a disservice to trying to describe Dark Souls, but at the same time, I would say the games are hard to describe.

To me, at least, Playing Dark Souls is akin to... really, the first time you ever played the Legend of Zelda or perhaps Castlevania: Symphony of the Night? I'd say moreso The Legend of Zelda, yeah. the world is open, the games can easily be sequence broken, and the story is something that you only can fit the pieces of the puzzle together if you piece together what little scraps the game does give you and create your own headcannons. Alex speaks of it being a 60 hour Action RPG. this may be true for your first time, but I have started the game over a couple of times [1 NG+ playthrough and 1 with an alternate build to the one I tried the first time] and went 15 and 8 hours respectively, and I could probably go faster if not for grinding and faffing about in general trying things I hadn't on the first time. That's really where Alex fails to describe the idea that this is a game that can be played in MANY different and equally valid ways! you can practically rediscover the game by simply trying a different play style each time, and have so many tension filled moments!


I only started playing the first Dark Souls last April, and I -STILL- cannot put the game down. I was playing it while listening to this podcast [Playing NG+ on my DEX/INT build going through Duke's Archives. I also have a str build file I'm starting where I'm going to try and main the Demon's Great Axe or something and play most of the game with the fat roll and such. to see how playing the game tankier pans out for me when I'm so used to light/Woodgrain ring roll] before I paused the show to talk about this and my eventual segway into Bloodborne.

the combat is indeed weightier and more of a patient version of Ocarina of Time's Z targeting, where the recovery on attacks can leave you so open, and the enemies are VERY damaging. the amount of mechanics that work in this gameplay style's favor is more than I'm willing to list on this post to keep it from being a mile long, but the game is SO thoughtfully designed  on a basic level, and makes the combat in particular something where you have to step back and assess the situation. it's actually has a lot of the same assessing enemy placement and stiffness to combat that the original castlevania games had, where perseverance in deconstructing an encounter was just as important to the game as your manual dexterity.

The biig difference between any of the Souls games and Bloodborne is the idea that in the souls games, a lot of your time is spent behind a shield. block or parry an oncoming attack and retort with your own blow. Miyazaki-san wants to put the onus on the player rather than the enemy to create the offensive opening one would need to finish off the punishing enemies, and this intrigues me far more than Dark Souls 2, even if I am certainly playing that game and Demon Souls at some point.

Offline Webmalfunction

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Re: Episode 138: Recovery
« Reply #3 on: June 23, 2014, 12:04:30 PM »
I think Alex Culafi really did a disservice to trying to describe Dark Souls, but at the same time, I would say the games are hard to describe.

To me, at least, Playing Dark Souls is akin to... really, the first time you ever played the Legend of Zelda or perhaps Castlevania: Symphony of the Night? I'd say moreso The Legend of Zelda, yeah. the world is open, the games can easily be sequence broken, and the story is something that you only can fit the pieces of the puzzle together if you piece together what little scraps the game does give you and create your own headcannons. Alex speaks of it being a 60 hour Action RPG. this may be true for your first time, but I have started the game over a couple of times [1 NG+ playthrough and 1 with an alternate build to the one I tried the first time] and went 15 and 8 hours respectively, and I could probably go faster if not for grinding and faffing about in general trying things I hadn't on the first time. That's really where Alex fails to describe the idea that this is a game that can be played in MANY different and equally valid ways! you can practically rediscover the game by simply trying a different play style each time, and have so many tension filled moments!


I only started playing the first Dark Souls last April, and I -STILL- cannot put the game down. I was playing it while listening to this podcast [Playing NG+ on my DEX/INT build going through Duke's Archives. I also have a str build file I'm starting where I'm going to try and main the Demon's Great Axe or something and play most of the game with the fat roll and such. to see how playing the game tankier pans out for me when I'm so used to light/Woodgrain ring roll] before I paused the show to talk about this and my eventual segway into Bloodborne.

the combat is indeed weightier and more of a patient version of Ocarina of Time's Z targeting, where the recovery on attacks can leave you so open, and the enemies are VERY damaging. the amount of mechanics that work in this gameplay style's favor is more than I'm willing to list on this post to keep it from being a mile long, but the game is SO thoughtfully designed  on a basic level, and makes the combat in particular something where you have to step back and assess the situation. it's actually has a lot of the same assessing enemy placement and stiffness to combat that the original castlevania games had, where perseverance in deconstructing an encounter was just as important to the game as your manual dexterity.

The biig difference between any of the Souls games and Bloodborne is the idea that in the souls games, a lot of your time is spent behind a shield. block or parry an oncoming attack and retort with your own blow. Miyazaki-san wants to put the onus on the player rather than the enemy to create the offensive opening one would need to finish off the punishing enemies, and this intrigues me far more than Dark Souls 2, even if I am certainly playing that game and Demon Souls at some point.

It is a tough game to describe. To me, Dark Souls is the closest thing to a knight-in-shining-armor simulator because I always go in lumbering with sword, shield, and heavy armor. You're right though -- this game is great for completely different reasons to many different people.


It's also worth noting that this was recorded before most of the Bloodborne details were out.

Offline Soren

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Re: Episode 138: Recovery
« Reply #4 on: June 24, 2014, 03:09:47 PM »
Wait...so with only a minute long trailer to go by we can already assume Kirby Rainbow Curse isn't going to be a $60 experience?


Flawless logic.


I mean, at least Nintendo is being flexible enough with pricing for Wii U games so far.
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Offline Webmalfunction

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Re: Episode 138: Recovery
« Reply #5 on: June 24, 2014, 04:45:46 PM »
Wait...so with only a minute long trailer to go by we can already assume Kirby Rainbow Curse isn't going to be a $60 experience?


Flawless logic.


I mean, at least Nintendo is being flexible enough with pricing for Wii U games so far.
It doesn't make sense to me that it will, but if Nintendo can charge 40-50 for an HD Gamecube game, I guess they can charge 60 for a sequel to an early-cycle DS game.

Offline Neifirst

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Re: Episode 138: Recovery
« Reply #6 on: June 25, 2014, 12:31:22 PM »
Good episode, but WTF with the pricing monologue at the end!?  Did I hear correctly that a new play mechanic is not worth a $60 price, but an open world game design is?  Different strokes, I guess, but navigating around to clear a bunch of icons off a map doesn't scream great value to me, even if it does take dozens of hours to get 100% completion.