Topics

1

General Gaming / Final Fantasy XII sucks...

« on: October 11, 2006, 08:51:13 AM »

This game has, hands down, the absolute worst battle system of any RPG I've ever played in my life. It's like playing a bad MMORPG, only offline, while the computer does almost all of the actual playing for you. You're basically just watching the game play itself. You make an initial selection for the enemy, select "Attack", then sit back while your character repeatedly hits him until he dies. You can interrupt this if you want to select something like "use potion", but apparently later on you don't even have to do that much because you can set the characters on auto pilot. To quote Gabe from Penny Arcade: "The game is masturbating"
And don't get me started on the voices...if I wanted to listen to bad fake British accents, I'd...wait, I DON'T want to listen to bad fake British accents.
Compared to the utter perfection that was Final Fantasy X's battle system, this is a joke. No, an insult. I've loved the Final Fantasy series ever since I played the first on on the NES in 1990. I've played every one released in English save XI, because I simply don't do MMOs. I can tell you my favorite moment from every game in the series, and why I love each one because they're different, but still fun and filled with interesting characters I care about and with intriguing plots to go through. And the plot to XII seems interesting. grand, epic war between nations makes for wonderful storytelling if done right, and from what I hear, it's done very well here. But they saddled it with boring non-gameplay that sucks every bit of fun one might have had with it by removing the player completely from the equation.
This game does not deserve the title "Final Fantasy". Hell, it's hardly even a game. You don't even play it. It's basically an interactive movie. In fact, if they'd just made it a 40 hour movie, I'd have been happier (as long as they'd given me a Japanese voices option).
And now, a short list of games with better battle systems than Final Fantasy XII:
Final Fantasy X-2
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VI
Final Fantasy V
Final Fantasy IV
Final Fantasy III (I'm guessing)
Final Fantasy II
Final Fantasy
Wild Arms
Suikoden
Suikoden II
Breath of Fire
Breath of Fire II
Breath of Fire III
Breath of Fire IV
Breath of Fire V
Chrono Trigger
Chrono Cross
Legend of Mana
Secret of Mana
Secret of Evermore
Xenogears
And any other RPG ever made that's NOT Final Fantasy XII.  

2

Nintendo Gaming / DS Lite...I'm a bit dissapointed...

« on: June 07, 2006, 08:43:42 PM »

We got the Lite display kiosk thing at the WalMart I work at, and I tried it out for a few minutes today. I must say, the screens are gorgeous. I love the case, and how slim the system is. However, that's where the love ends.
I really don't like the new d-pad, or the buttons. They feel mushy and fragile, like if I play the system for a week they'll break (especially the d-pad).
So, I think I'll stick with my current NDS. The screens aren't quite as nice, but it's not like they're terrible (I remember when first seeing a DS and loving the screen then), and I much prefer the buttons, and I think the regular DS has the best d-pad of any handheld...ever, really.

3

General Gaming / Blizzard discrimination in WoW

« on: January 31, 2006, 07:45:03 PM »

Apparantly it's okay to create pro-Christian guilds in WoW, or any other type of "pro-something" guild...as long as it's not a pro homosexual guild. I find double standards to be in very poor taste, and this just gives me yet another reason to not play their overrated graphical-chatroom-disguised-as-a-game monthly fee moneypit.
Jerks.

4

Nintendo Gaming / Replacement DS game cases?

« on: December 27, 2005, 06:58:57 AM »

Does anyone know of any retailer (on or offline) that sells DS game cases? Like the ones the games come in, not little tiny "card only" shells. I ask because I want to make game cases for the pile of GBA games sitting on my entertainment center.
Why doesn't Nintendo put GBA games in these nice plastic cases? They have a slot for the carts there, and they'd be worlds better than crappy paper boxes...

5

General Chat / A note to whoever made the Jamster ad

« on: March 19, 2005, 06:42:45 AM »

Having some creepy bug-eyed...thing, dancing around on my screen annoying the piss out of me is the world's most effective way of making sure you never ever get my business. Just thought I'd let you know.

6

Reader Reviews / My Starfox: Assault review

« on: February 20, 2005, 10:29:25 AM »

Just beat the game on Silver diffuculty, and I must say I think the game is better than the reviews are giving it credit for. This game is actually pretty well made. Graphics are nice (aside from a problem of overused textures on the ground), and the models for the characters are very nice. The gameplay is surprisingly good. I used the Dual Stick control setup, and found that the ground missions were actually pretty fun. Namco did a good job with the Arwing stuff, too. Challenging, occasionally frustrating, but overall very much in the spirit of the series. I really felt like I was playing a Starfox game.
The music is nice, also, with some very good orchestral remixes of the traditional Starfox theme, and some good battle music. The Starwolf Team music in particular is very nice. The only real complaint I have with the game is Fox's voice. Everyone else sounds okay (I'd even go so far as to say Falco's voice is good), but Fox's is too deep, and doesn't sound anything like the voice he has in Adventures, Smash Bros. Melee or even Starfox 64. If they'd gotten the guy from Adventures I'd have been much happier.
Plus, Fox is hot. Nuff said.
Other than that, the game is a lot of fun, single player. I haven't tried the multiplayer yet, but I'll correct that soon enough I think. I'd give the game a 8.5 out of 10.

7

Nintendo Gaming / Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes custom DVD case cover

« on: March 11, 2004, 04:56:30 PM »

If you're like me, you just got Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes and are loving it. Also, if you're like me, you found the cover art to be somewhat...lacking (okay, I thought it sucked. A render of the characters, yay, how original).
So, I decided to make my own cover and have it printed out at Officemax, and replaced it. I thought people here might like to check it out, and if they like it enough print it out to replace their own copy's DVD case insert.
Here's the preview image:
http://www.shingallon.com/TS_my_cover.jpg
And here's the printable-quality jpg (warning: it's BIG, 300 dpi, so it'll look nice when printed).
http://www.shingallon.com/MGS_TS_cover_big.jpg
Hope you all like it, any comments are appreciated!

8

Nintendo Gaming / Super Mario Bros. 3 impressions

« on: October 16, 2003, 10:04:45 PM »

I picked this up tonight, and overall I'm happy with it, but not as happy as I ought to be. I was really hoping they wouldn't blight this port with the same problem SMB2 had: Annoying, pointless voice. There should really be an option to turn the voice off and have it sound like the original game, because hearing Mario saying the same 3 things over and over again gets VERY old very quick. Also, when you talk to the Mushroom Retainers in the castles before going to the Airship levels, they added the world's most annoying sound effect: "text chatter". Why they chose to do this is beyond me.
Graphically, it's pretty perfect. Aside from altering the menu a bit and moving most of the information to the top of the screen rather than the "status bar" format the original and the SNES port had, it looks exactly like the SNES version in the stages. They took out the larger portraits of the characters that were in the Match Game houses originally, but that's not really a big deal.
The important thing is that the gameplay is still intact, and aside from the annoying voice (and the music's slightly degraded quality), it's the game I remember from my childhood. The one alteration to this is that Luigi is not merely a clone of Mario, but rather has his taller look and hover-jump from SMB2, which is a welcome change (even in 1988 I thought they should have kept him like he was in SMB2).
I don't have an E-Reader, so I can't comment on the new levels, but my friend has one, so I'll be able to try them out soon enough.
So, finally, the best Mario game ever is finally portable, and aside from the aural annoyances, it's great. Go buy it, especially now while it's still early ; )

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Nintendo Gaming / Klonoa Heroes: Ever coming out in the US?

« on: September 13, 2003, 10:38:52 AM »

Has ANYONE heard anything about either Klonoa G2: Dream Champ Tournament or Klonoa: Heroes of the Star Medal coming out in the US? I have ROMs of the Japanese releases but can only read about 20% of them, and if they were released in the US I'd more than certainly buy them. Has anyone heard anything regarding either of these titles being localized by Namco? Thanks.