Messages

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TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Switch Online To Launch Tuesday, Start Charging September 25

« on: September 12, 2018, 10:38:28 AM »

Considering the service's pathetic & inconsistently supported  feature set so far, I find myself echoing the teacher in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure:

"Oh, and Nintendo? That Direct of yours had better be REALLY special."

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TalkBack / Re: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles To Be Remastered In 2019

« on: September 11, 2018, 06:46:33 PM »

People seem fired up about Crystal Bucket!

By far the most interesting thing to come of Call of Bucket Duty.

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TalkBack / Re: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles To Be Remastered In 2019

« on: September 11, 2018, 10:27:58 AM »

O_O

Wow. They really did it (Last Remnant Remastered).

Also...

You want a Last Remnant remaster before Crystal Chronicles.....

C'mon man.

Yes, that one.

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TalkBack / Re: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles To Be Remastered In 2019

« on: September 10, 2018, 12:42:36 PM »

Crystal Chronicles is the ORIGINAL consolation prize 3rd party Nintendo game. No one liked it back then, so I find the nostalgia for it perplexing.

Whose consolation prize? Nintendo threw Square a bone after Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within bombed.

Wow, clearly you don't remember all the "what's this token spinoff crap? Where's our REAL FF on GameCube?" complaints we had on the forums. I can reasonably guarantee there was at least one Ian comment to that effect.

As for Valkyrie Profile, I'd add that Square Enix just remade that game on mobile. They haven't shown any restraint in porting their mobile garbage to Switch so far, so why stop now?

This is clearly a snide remark regarding Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition, but it doesn’t make sense. They’re completely different situations. The mobile version of Valkyrie Profile Lenneth is merely a port of a PSP port of a PlayStation game. Porting the mobile version and re-adding the traditional controls seems like a lot of trouble when Square Enix could just port the PlayStation or PSP version.

Not just FF 15 Pocket, but The World Ends With You, too IIRC.

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TalkBack / Re: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles To Be Remastered In 2019

« on: September 10, 2018, 11:07:38 AM »

You want a Last Remnant remaster before Crystal Chronicles.....

C'mon man.

Yes. The 360 version ran at like 12 frames per second. I probably would have enjoyed it otherwise.

Crystal Chronicles is the ORIGINAL consolation prize 3rd party Nintendo game. No one liked it back then, so I find the nostalgia for it perplexing.

As for Valkyrie Profile, I'd add that Square Enix just remade that game on mobile. They haven't shown any restraint in porting their mobile garbage to Switch so far, so why stop now?

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TalkBack / Re: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles To Be Remastered In 2019

« on: September 10, 2018, 10:31:45 AM »

I do hope that in the PS4 version there's a trophy for picking up the Bucket for the first time called "IT'S CALLED A " CHALICE!"".

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TalkBack / Re: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles To Be Remastered In 2019

« on: September 10, 2018, 10:12:11 AM »

Of all the games to remaster, why THIS one?

The ResetEra thread for this game looks like the celebration at the end of Return of Jedi so I imagine the game has quite the cult following. Why not this one?

What game(s) would you rather have seen Square Enix remaster?

Valkyrie Profile 1 & 2
Dissida 012 Duodecim
FF 7 Crisis Core
Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen
Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Calibre
Lufia 2: Rise of the Sinestrals (doing it right this time)
Front Mission (series)
Parasite EVE (series)
Nier Gestalt
The Last Remnant
The entire FF 13 Trilogy (why not? Nintendo never got it)

That would be a start, and that's not even getting into the REALLY expensive remakes like FF 9.

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TalkBack / Re: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles To Be Remastered In 2019

« on: September 10, 2018, 09:18:31 AM »

Of all the games to remaster, why THIS one? Outside the soundtrack, did anyone actually enjoy Bucket Duty? -_-

At least the game will actually be playable this time, now that you don't need a constant GBA connection to play MP.

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General Gaming / Re: What are you playing?

« on: September 08, 2018, 01:33:53 AM »

Spider-Man (PS4)
This game is incredible. Definitely the best Spider-Man game ever made.

I'm still quite partial to Shattered Dimensions, just due to the variety of characters; styles; & locations. Still, I started playing this game after work, and I look up now and it's 1:30 AM so it must be doing something right. It's a very good game, but it's definitely full of the usual Ubisoft Open World issues (a map full of icons, radio towers to unlock said icons on the map) and Spider-Man game issues (repeating audio, repetitive side content). Still, you can't beat the sheer amount of polish Insomniac put into it.

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TalkBack / Re: Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition HD Announced For Switch

« on: September 07, 2018, 04:48:17 PM »

Are there micro-transactions in this?  I'm slightly interested, but the art style is off-putting.

My understanding is that the console versions do not. The mobile versions used them to unlock the various chapters of the game, which is why it's F2P on mobile and $30 on the storefronts (currently on sale for less).

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TalkBack / Re: Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition HD Announced For Switch

« on: September 07, 2018, 03:04:13 PM »

I just don't see the point to buying this game on consoles, though at least it isn't as pointlessly redundant on the Switch as it is on the PS4 & Xbone (where you can usually buy the real game for the same, if not lower, price).

The whole point of the Pocket Edition was to have a F2P FF 15 on mobile with microtransactions. Why would you ever want to play a bastardized version of an already unfinished game made for devices that can't play real games...on a console, even if it does have all the chapters?

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General Gaming / Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?

« on: September 05, 2018, 12:36:10 AM »

Just out of curiosity, what would you consider other, recent racing games that tried things a bit differently? I can really only think of DiRT Rally with its time-rewind feature to compensate for the difficulty, and maybe that racing-platformer hybrid Skylanders game I guess...

To me OnRush looks like ExciteTrucks but with half of it's ideas cut and the remainder presented as the bees knees of racing games: you have ExciteTrucks' points system and combat giving points for destroying opponents in variety of ways, but there is no terrain deformation, there is no actual racing (however putting cars back into the pack IS a very neat idea), there is no constant barrage of mini-challenges along the road.

I can't speak for ExciteTrucks since I never played it, but I did play Excitebots and if the mini-games in the former are as intolerable and unreliable (due to the motion control) as in the latter I think I would prefer Onrush or Split/Second.

Make no mistake: Onrush is desperately lacking in match types, something that maybe would have been addressed had the game been successful, but since it wasn't...it is what it is, and I mostly like what it is. I despise "realistic" racing games, so when you have a company put out a roller coaster in racing game form, it appeals to me. It's not doing the same ol' crap racing games still regurgitate year after year.

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General Gaming / Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?

« on: September 03, 2018, 10:15:09 PM »

Still, great to see creativity in the racing genre again, which of course means it totally failed in the marketplace.

Just out of curiosity, what would you consider other, recent racing games that tried things a bit differently? I can really only think of DiRT Rally with its time-rewind feature to compensate for the difficulty, and maybe that racing-platformer hybrid Skylanders game I guess...

Split/Second's an easy pick there, along with Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed. Going back to the N64 days, I'd also cite Beetle Adventure Racing and Diddy Kong Racing.

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General Gaming / Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?

« on: September 02, 2018, 08:49:00 PM »

I recently finished (and Platinumed) the SP Campaign of Onrush, and overall I quite enjoyed it. The game desperately needs some new modes & maps it'll never get and some of the challenges towards the end of the campaign are downright sadistic. The "Tournament" events are also a colossal pain since they drag on for 4-5 matches, and you have to win all of them in what can often be a very luck-reliant affair.

Still, great to see creativity in the racing genre again, which of course means it totally failed in the marketplace.

I also recently finished (and Platinumed) Guacamelee 2, and...eh...it's OK. It's basically Guacamelee 1 again, but with slower pacing, more Ikaruga B.S. and more chicken powers. The team has still never learned when to end a joke, so they'll have sections of the game dedicated to mocking specific things (including criticism of Guacamelee 1) that feel like they just drag on forever.

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TalkBack / Re: Elma Added to Xenoblade Chronicles 2

« on: August 25, 2018, 01:28:21 AM »

Hey, for the first time a character from Xenoblade Chronicles X gets to be involved with a good game. Cool.

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TalkBack / Re: THQ Nordic Porting Saints Row: The Third To Switch

« on: August 21, 2018, 11:26:56 PM »

But...why? Why not port Saints Row 4, the better game? Yeah, the game ran like crap even on the PS4, but it was both newer & better than SR3.

I think you answered your own question. If Saints Row 4 ran poorly on PS4, what are the chances it would run well on significantly weaker hardware?

Funny thing about that, actually: Saints Row 4 uses the exact same world map as Saints Row 3. Granted, with all the superpowers, you're causing way more stuff to fly around & kill the framerate in 4 (plus, you have super speed), but it's not like 3 is pushing that much less.

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TalkBack / Re: THQ Nordic Porting Saints Row: The Third To Switch

« on: August 21, 2018, 06:06:44 PM »

But...why? Why not port Saints Row 4, the better game? Yeah, the game ran like crap even on the PS4, but it was both newer & better than SR3.

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General Chat / Re: If your Identity seems to be different....

« on: August 21, 2018, 04:16:20 PM »

I'll explain the situation when I get home tonight in a PM. It'll make more sense then. 

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General Chat / Re: If your Identity seems to be different....

« on: August 21, 2018, 03:12:42 PM »

Just a heads-up, but I only visit a handful of places on the forums. I didnt see any notice. I'd have appreciated a heads-up by PM 1st. There were some hurtful things misinterpreted by the name & SIG change that could have been avoided. I mean, it's not the 1st time mods have messed with my profile.

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TalkBack / Re: A Hat In Time To Come To Switch

« on: August 21, 2018, 10:39:53 AM »

I liked what I played of the PS4 version, but the game also ran at 15-20 frames per second at best. I would hope they're completely retooling the game for Switch.

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General Gaming / Re: What are you playing?

« on: August 20, 2018, 11:40:31 PM »

Still plunking away at Onrush, and I've made significant progress both in online play & SP. I'm really enjoying the change-up to the usual racing formula, and it's easily one of the most entertaining games I've played all year.

Unfortunately, it's also one of the most needlessly frustrating. For one, despite the game having 4 different modes (Overcharge, Countdown, Switch, & Lockdown), the Ranked online season play (which is the only online available right now while the Ranked mode is in-season) really only has 2: Switch & Lockdown. I've only seen Overcharge a few times online, and I've never seen Countdown online. That's especially impressive considering that the ranked season matches are automatically generated. Players don't get to pick anything except their vehicles.

Granted, Lockdown & Switch are the 2 best modes in the game, but this game has enough issues with repetition already without deliberately making it worse. That's assuming you can even get into an online match, though. Right now, you have about a 20% chance of getting matched into a brand new match, about a 60% chance of getting matched onto a losing team in a match that's about to wrap (hope you don't mind losing an online rank!), and 20% chance of getting matched into a match that's already ended (thus starting the entire process over). Oh, and I hope you won that match you got thrown into the last minute of, because otherwise you get none of the progression currency that's used to unlock the rewards from the online season.  This is a team-based game. That is bullshit.


Oh, and that's assuming that the Codemasters servers actually hold up, because they frequently disconnect immediately after matches or during matchmaking. And SPEAKING of those servers, this game requires an always online connection to even play the Singleplayer events. Why? I have no goddamn idea. I've been kicked out of Singleplayer matches because the servers hiccuped, and it's maddening as hell.

It's a real shame, too, because the actual gameplay is phenomenal. Your cars are made of paper mache online so the slightest love tap kills you, but the sheer energy & physicality of the game is infectious. Despite the limited number of tracks, they can experience shifts in daylight & weather conditions over the course of a race that can radically change up how the match plays. There is genuine creativity and willingness to experiment, and it's all wasted on a game that is needlessly crippled by stupid decision decisions outside of gameplay.

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General Gaming / Re: What is the last game you beat? Thoughts/impressions?

« on: August 18, 2018, 11:19:35 AM »

Went back to and finished Rime for the Switch. Sure it has an unpleasant case of the stutters all too often, but it doesn't really affect the gameplay. Which is easy breezy puzzle platforming for the most part. The story has a satisfying ending, although the connection to the rest of the game is kinda tenuous.

Score: A Solid 7

It makes more sense if you go back and look at the chapter names now that you've unlocked chapter select.

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General Gaming / Re: Spyro Reignited Trilogy brings the Nintendo Switch experience to the PS4/Xbone

« on: August 17, 2018, 09:23:52 PM »

I don’t know whether to praise or condemn Activision because delaying the game to fix this is the absolute correct choice. Then again, it shouldn’t have gotten to this point to begin with. The whole situation comes off as “We’re as shitty as you allow us to be.”

No kidding. The unofficial word is that Activision was rushing this Collection severely to get out ahead of the coming Black Hole that is Red Dead. You have a team that had to remake 3 entire games from scratch in what can't be more than 2 years when you consider that the Crash Collection is likely the reason this exists. The dev team right now only has Spyro 1 ready and 2 mostly done. 3 is still an active fire, allegedly. And Activision wanted to kick this thing out the door a month from now and fix it later? Sheesh. Master Chief Collection all over again.

Thankfully, the outrage over the games now being all on the disc helped give the devs ammo to push back against the larger problem of the games just flat out not being ready.

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General Gaming / Re: Spyro Reignited Trilogy brings the Nintendo Switch experience to the PS4/Xbone

« on: August 17, 2018, 06:26:25 PM »

The Spyro Collection has been officially delayed till 11/13/18.

Unofficially, the reason for the delay is that Spyros 2 & 3 needed more time for the devs to finish them, and this delay also allows them to put all 3 games on the disc, thus resolving the entire reason for this thread.

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General Gaming / Re: What are you playing?

« on: August 16, 2018, 10:49:02 AM »

I played the OnRush beta a while back and while the racing felt good I didn't see how the modes they had could keep me engaged for long.

The Single-player mode attempts to make up for the low number of game types by putting in side objectives ("total X number of fodder, drive through X number of gates consecutively, shield teammates X number of times, etc." & forcing you to use different car classes with specific loadouts. I'm concerned at how much longevity this will give the game, but I'm enjoying it so far. Honestly, this is a game that could really use a Mario Kart-esque Battle Mode or Split/Second's course-altering Power Plays.