Messages

1201

General Gaming / Re: If you could only play one genre

« on: February 07, 2013, 06:27:33 PM »

2D Metroidvania games. All day, every day.

Give this person a prize!

1202

TalkBack / Re: Rayman Legends Delayed To September

« on: February 07, 2013, 04:50:39 PM »

@Pandareus
 
Are we talking about any games in particular that will take attention away from Legends on Wii U? What's coming out in September on Wii U? I genuinely don't know.

It might not be on Wii U, but Grand Theft Auto V will eat this game alive.

As I've said, we're getting to that point in the generation where publishers really have little choice as to what they're up against in any given month. If you're going to release a game on this current generation of consoles then you have limited options. I'm sure Ubisoft would have preferred to launch the game earlier (that in fact is the biggest tragedy here, that they didn't take the decision to make the game multi-console sooner and, in so doing, get it out sooner), but clearly they couldn't.

1203

TalkBack / Re: Rayman Legends Delayed To September

« on: February 07, 2013, 04:43:22 PM »

They've got to sell what they can, while they can.

So they should sell the finished Wii U version in Feb. like they planned?

There's two reasons why I would answer no to that question. Launching a game twice is more expensive than launching it once. There is also an acknowledged phenomena that when a game is launched several months later on another platform it sells less (partly that's to do with the fact that it's often deemed to be a port, which for some holds negative connotations, and it's partly due to the fact that game websites and media report less on a game if it's already been available on other platforms).
 
There are very good reasons to not want to release on Wii U several months before they plan to release on other platforms. Look man, I'm no damn analyst. All I'm saying is that I can see why this decision may have been taken. I still think it's a bummer that it's being delayed, but I have to disagree that it's a bad financial decision.

1204

TalkBack / Re: Rayman Legends Delayed To September

« on: February 07, 2013, 04:28:22 PM »

@Pandareus
 
Are we talking about any games in particular that will take attention away from Legends on Wii U? What's coming out in September on Wii U? I genuinely don't know.

1205

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Playing SMB3 for 1st time and kinda hating it

« on: February 07, 2013, 04:16:05 PM »

I've got nothing, man.

Thanks for your nothing )

lol
 
I'd love to be able to contribute more, but I'm kind of speechless.
SMB3 was the first game I ever played. I was 4. It was, and remains, amazing. Without a doubt the best Mario game ever made.
 
I respect your opinion, I just don't understand it. Ha.

1206

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Playing SMB3 for 1st time and kinda hating it

« on: February 07, 2013, 04:08:57 PM »

...
...
...
 
I've got nothing, man. I feel sorry for you.
 
It's up there with Super Metroid and Chrono Trigger as one of the best games ever made.

1207

TalkBack / Re: Rayman Legends Delayed To September

« on: February 07, 2013, 03:52:16 PM »

Had they released the Wii U version in three weeks like they were supposed to, they would have been the biggest fish in the pond. The only fish in the pond. And I think it would have sold not only at a higher price, but also more copies in the long run.

They shouldn't have delayed the Wii U version because of the ports.

Are you suggesting that Wii U owners won't now buy the game because it was delayed, or that they won't now buy it because it's going to be available simultaneously on other systems?

If you're suggesting the former, then I can point to multiple instances of Nintendo having a game in the can but delaying for one reason or another (the European release of FE:Awakening was announced for Fall 2012 and we're now going to have to wait until April, seemingly to plug a software gap!). I'm sure Ubisoft did their homework before coming to this decision.

If you're suggesting the latter, then I simply don't believe gamers are that childish. Who's stupid enough to pass up playing a great game just because it's now available on other platforms.
 
The release being in the same window as a game like GTA perhaps isn't ideal, but let's be honest they have very few options at this point in the generation. There's very little room for maneuver with the Durango and Orbis on the horizon. They've got to sell what they can, while they can.

1208

TalkBack / Re: Rayman Legends Delayed To September

« on: February 07, 2013, 03:02:33 PM »

The delay is a bummer. Ultimately though, the release on other consoles is in the best interests of the series. We can still fault Ubisoft for the way they handled this release, but I don't think we can fault them too much for their decision.

1209

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Paper Mario: Sticker Star

« on: February 07, 2013, 08:13:38 AM »

It's clearly not an RPG anymore, more or less an adventure with it's try-try again puzzle solutions.

I much perfer M&L games over the latest entry Paper Mario Sticker Star.

Amen brother.

1210

Movies & TV / Re: Rate the last movie you've seen

« on: February 07, 2013, 07:51:00 AM »

What else did she sacrifice?
She has no friends because she's trying to find
him, or because she can't make friends because of her personality? Does she want
to be distracted? Has she tried?
Do her family know where she is? Has she
tried to keep in contact?

I'm not sure those questions really fall within the remit of what the film was trying to accomplish. I do, however, feel that enough of Chastin's character (in particular her obsession) was shown for the audience to infer what her social and family life would have been like. On another level, you might even argue that friends and family were simply not important to her character during this period of her life, and that's reflected by the absence of both throughout the film.
 
I can only speak for myself, but those weren't the primary questions that this film left me with. I was far more intrigued by the machinations within the CIA and the justifications the various characters employed to justify their actions. It was absolutely fascinating.
 

Was the tears in the final shot to say "i dont know where to go now?"

This was the real question for me. You can check out my impressions of the film a few pages back, but I took those tears to mean two things. Firstly, it was an outpouring of relief. Secondly, it was the final realisation of what she had done in pursuit of her aim. She had performed some atrocious acts throughout the film (torture being foremost, but let's not forget that she was also the person pushing most forcefully for the compound to be bombed despite the presence of children), and her crying at the end was more a question to the audience. Is the termination of one evil person a justifiable reason to suspend our own codes of conduct or morals? In pursuit of fighting evil, do we ourselves become evil?

It's not a question that the film answers, but rather one that the film poses.

As you can probably tell, I thought this film was exceptional.

1211

Movies & TV / Re: Rate the last movie you've seen

« on: February 05, 2013, 12:00:50 PM »

I also thought the "Australians" were pretty hilarious as well.

 
 
Weird. I thought that was the weakest part of the film.
 
Those scenes with Django in transit to the mine didn't really go anywhere, and needlessly dragged the film beyond what would have (IMO) been a far more natural conclusion (the death of Candy and Shultz, and the amazing bloodbath that followed). Admittedly, when he does return to the estate it's from a position of power (which I assume was the point) but nothing much has really changed other than the fact that they weren't expecting him. I can't help but feel that there must have been a more adroit way to have written that ending.
 
There's also the fact that those scenes with Australians include one of the worst cameos I've ever seen. It was excruciating to watch him try to act and do an accent at that same time, lol. Truely terrible.
 
It doesn't really matter though, because the rest of that film is so well made.

1212

General Gaming / Re: If you could only play one genre

« on: February 05, 2013, 07:44:20 AM »

He capitalized it, so he may be referring to Retro Studios, which still isn't a genre, but raises another interesting question of if you could only play games from one developer, who would it be?

Oddly, mine would in fact be Retro studios.

1213

Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 324: Punky Hamster

« on: February 05, 2013, 02:12:12 AM »

On the discussion of random battles and grinding.
 
I never really grew up playing RPG's, so my tolerance for random battles is pretty much zero. I've gone back and played Chronotrigger and Secret of Mana, both of which I really enjoyed. I think Jonny's right though, the psychological impact of even having the illusion that you can avoid battles, if you're fast or nimble enough, is huge.
 
As I enjoyed those two games so much, I thought that I might enjoy other 16 bit RPGs. When I played Phantasy Star IV on VC though I realised that I absolutely could not truck with random battles. I also played though Final Fantasy 6, and while I definitely prefer FFVI to PSIV, I was still driven mad by the random battles.
 
I think you must just need to build up that tolerance as a kid, because my patience for that sort of thing is non-existent.
 
On a side note, I think Bit.Trip Runner, Meat Boy, and Hotline Miami have set my expectations pretty high as far as just letting me play the game is concerned. By which I mean, those games have destroyed any patience I had for games with fail screens, which then take 30 sceonds or more to reload the level, and in some instances even force you to button mash your way through text and tutorials that you've seen multiple times (I'm looking at you Fluidity: Spin Cycle).
 
On side side note, I finally got all the puzzle pieces and 5 stars in Spin Cycle. That game was aweseome (I just wish they had included an option to skip all the text once you had already gone through a level).

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General Gaming / Re: If you could only play one genre

« on: February 05, 2013, 01:56:18 AM »

I think I would go with platformers or Zelda style adventure games.

A close 2nd or is that 3rd is Retro games.

Retro isn't a genre. It's a stylistic choice. Good try, though, good try. 

1215

General Gaming / Re: If you could only play one genre

« on: February 04, 2013, 03:55:31 PM »

Zelda's status as an RPG is widely debated BUT I notice Secret of Mana is pretty much always referred to as an RPG.  But don't both games play pretty similarly?  If you liked LttP, you probably would also like Secret of Mana.  Is the difference because one is made by Square or that SoM has experience points and levels?  Zelda's heart pieces are a similar concept but not specifically defined as levels and experience points.  It seems that that one detail is what really keeps Zelda from being regarded as an RPG.

For me the reasons I've never considered Zelda an RPG are two-fold. Zelda has puzzles and Zelda does not have experience points and levels (not counting Zelda II). It's the series' focus on puzzles in combination with the lack of a leveling system (hearts etc I consider to be upgrades, although the distinction may seem arbitrary) that sets Zelda apart from something like Secret of Mana for me.
 
In a sense, Neither Zelda nor Metroid fit easily within any one genre. Particularly since Ocarina and Prime, those series have become genres unto themselves.

1216

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

« on: February 04, 2013, 02:50:36 PM »

Picked up the most recent Indie Royal bundle of games (the evolved bundle) and got 5 games out of it for $8 including
Unmechanical
The Path
Krater
Sugar Cube: Bittersweet Factory
OIO

Don't really know what any of these games are about but for $8 I'm willing to find out.  Also got soundtracks, steam keys for all but OIO and Dasura keys if I ever feel like creating an account there.

The only one I'm familiar with is unmechanical. It's kind of a physics based puzzle game. I thought it looked neat when it was first released, but I haven't checked it out for myself yet.

1217

Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 324: Punky Hamster

« on: February 04, 2013, 09:49:06 AM »

Great episode guys.
 
I can't wait to play Awakening, really looking forward to it.

1218

General Gaming / Re: If you could only play one genre

« on: February 04, 2013, 09:18:09 AM »

Mine would be Metroid-inspired exploration action games. Also known as Metroidvania. I just can't get enough of those games. Puzzle games might be a close second.

1219

TalkBack / Re: Miyamoto Changing His Gaming Style, Developers Have Yet to Add Uniqueness to Wii U Games

« on: February 03, 2013, 08:39:18 AM »

Honestly? I'd just rather just use the pro controller. It sits more comfortably in my hands than the Gamepad. Also, I do find the images on the Gamepad screen to be distracting.

1220

Movies & TV / Re: Rate the last movie you've seen

« on: February 02, 2013, 11:20:58 AM »

I'll still watch it, he's like the grandpa you wish you had, that took you out to get laid and beat up dudes with

I don't know, that grandpa sounds eerily like Duke Nukem. I don't think I like the idea of Grandpa Nukem.

1221

Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 323: Bad Moon on the Rise

« on: February 02, 2013, 07:26:18 AM »

at least it works at the moment.

That should be Nintendo's marketing slogan for the Wii U.
 
'Wii U. At least it works!'

1222

TalkBack / Re: Toki Tori 2 Delayed Due to Issues with Open World, Visuals, Frame Rate

« on: February 01, 2013, 07:16:05 PM »

Isn't it kind of weird for them to be so forthcoming about how 'ugly' the game was? I'm not saying it's a bad thing for developers to be up front, but usually they'd just say something to the effect that it needed more time for 'polish'.
 
It must have been in a pretty bad state for them to feel compelled to come forward and state exactly what was wrong with the game.

1223

Movies & TV / Re: Rate the last movie you've seen

« on: February 01, 2013, 06:00:07 AM »

ARGO - It's a solid, straightforward, intense political thriller. I don't have any complaints about it except it pales in comparison to ZERO DARK THIRTY. ARGO always feels like a Hollywood retelling of a true story while ZERO DARK THIRTY feels like the truth, regardless if it is or not. Still, ARGO is good.

Totally agree. My main criticism of Argo was that while the true story is fascinating, as a movie narrative it ended up being a little too straight forward. Towards the end it really felt like the filmmakers were throwing up makeshift road blocks to create artificial tension (artificial in the sense that the contrivance was obvious).
 
The interesting comparison between Argo and Zero Dark 30 is that both are based on true stories, and therefore the outcome of both films is known. Zero Dark 30, however, did a more successful job of instilling tension. Which is surprising given that the conclusion of Zero Dark 30's story is actually more widely known. Argo's story, by comparison, is less well known and you'd think, therefore, that film would have more opportunity to create anxiety in the audience. In the end though, once Argo had established the goal and the method, things played out pretty much as you'd expect.
 
I still really enjoyed Argo and would definitely recommend it. Zero Dark 30, however, is on a completely different level, and had I seen it in 2012 it would definitely have been my film of that year.

1224

TalkBack / Re: Puddle Review

« on: January 31, 2013, 07:05:39 PM »

Man, Nightsky was such a disappointment.

1225

TalkBack / Re: 3 Million Wii U, 12.7 Million 3DS Systems Sold in 2012

« on: January 31, 2013, 05:53:29 PM »

I'm not defending this practice, which is obviously business-orientated more than anything, but when they've got the really creative Mario projects like Galaxy and 3D Land going along concurrently with the NSMB series, I'm okay with the latter playing it safe. The 'comfort food' analogy is a good one.

For me though, eating the same thing over and over again is starting to bore the hell out of me. Playing NMSB 2 and NSMB U made me realise that the tropes of that series have long since lost their appeal. Comfort is ok, but at a certain point it just becomes pandering. That series has just become so bloody tedious.
 
That's just my stance though. Clearly other people are still enjoying these games. All you have to do is look at the sales figures to see that. As Ian Sane said though, I don't understand why Nintendo feel the need to put the 2D Mario games into some sort of rehash ghetto. Why shouldn't they do something interesting with a 2D Mario game? I'm of the age where I can actually remember a time when each and every 2D Mario game felt creative and fresh. Mario 1, 2 (USA), 3, World, Yoshi's Island. All unique, all interesting. The NSMB games by comparison all bleed together. I couldn't honestly tell you what my favourite level is from any one of those games because they're so amorphous.
 
It seems like everyone is in agreement that Nintendo are playing it safe as far as the NSMB games are concerned. The debate seems to be whether or not them playing safe is ok. Personally? I'm firmly of the opinion that those games are flat out boring.