Messages

1076

Gaming / Re: Official Nintendo 3DS Discussion Thread - Specs, Tech, Price? It's all here!

« on: September 16, 2011, 01:12:00 AM »

Either they had a hard time reversing the power flow through the charging port, or they decided that the 3DS's battery life kinda demands the option of leaving the system plugged in.

Guessing the actual input on the thing works through the IR port, otherwise you'd think they'd leave the stylus uncovered.

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Gaming / Re: The Light Myth: Palutena's Mirror / Kid Icarus Thread

« on: September 16, 2011, 01:09:11 AM »

Anybody else think it's kinda weird that Nintendo's basically banking every single thing they got into a franchise that hasn't come out yet?

A little.  But Kid Icarus was pretty much their showcase 3DS title back when the system was announced, so I'd imagine they've been watching the hype train closely if nothing else.

That and lots of people seem to [sonic slicer] that they rely too heavily on Mario and Zelda.  *shrugs*

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DASH / Re: It's dead, Jim.

« on: September 14, 2011, 01:37:14 AM »

Zelda has me hyped, but I'm most looking forward to Mario 3D Land.  A 3D Mario game that plays like a 2D one is a pretty sweet idea, after 4 games of Super Mario Sandboxing (which really gets old when you can't keep a single power-up in between).  Point-A-to-point-B 3D platformers are exceedingly rare.

Capcom has me by the balls with Street Fighter and MVC.

For me, it's Monster Hunter and Ace Attorney (although neither of them are that huge in the west anyway).

I always thought of boycotts as an extreme and unproductive reaction anyway; they tell the company what you don't want, not what you do.  Still, though Capcom has me at my fandoms (can't be helped), I'm certainly less inclined to take a chance with anything I'm less than certain of.  Whether that be big names I used to play (Street Fighter) or new IPs (Ghost Trick).

You can say I'm missing out, and you're probably right.  But as a matter of risk, why take a chance on an entity that refuses to take a chance on me?  It's more the cancellation of the Prototype than the cancellation of Legends 3 itself that has a lot of fans, myself included, pissed off.  That was their supposed gauge of interest, it was effectively done, and they backed out for the sheer hell of it when they could have had the only non-ported 3DS e-Shop game in existence (STILL).  Even from the "we're only in it for money" standpoint, you'd think they would have released what they had in the Prototype and cancelled after the point.

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Gaming / Re: The Official Pokémon Black & White Discussion Thread

« on: September 14, 2011, 12:39:23 AM »

CONFIRMED FOR BRAWL

*smacks Setsuna with a magic fish*
DON'T DO THAT!!!

But thanks for sharing.

B/W event, awesome news.  I'm surprised they're not giving him his Dream World ability, but still, his B/W signature attack is badass enough.  Remains to be seen if he'll have any event-exclusive attacks (come on, Nasty Plot...).

Sorry! The day I said I would help, my internet was cut off. Finally paid for it. 
I can help now if you need it!

On a side note, I have fully trained my team. Who wants to try them?

Definitely.  The 3DS kinda diverted my attention from my 'mans, so my Buldore is still sitting around unevolved.

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Gaming / Re: Official Nintendo 3DS Discussion Thread - Specs, Tech, Price? It's all here!

« on: September 14, 2011, 12:24:07 AM »

I have to admit it is pretty hard to get excited about Fire Emblem after what happened with Heroes of Light and Shadow...  Soon as they announce a U.S. release, then I'll be jumping off the walls and stuff.

I could easily see Monster Hunter Tri-G skipping us, but I would certainly hope that 4, being a full sequel, would make the cut.  Yay for stradle-stabbing wyverns!

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Gaming / Re: Official Nintendo 3DS Discussion Thread - Specs, Tech, Price? It's all here!

« on: September 12, 2011, 12:46:12 AM »

This isn't "personal preference". This is dismissing the most common gaming control standard since the d-pad as a "trend". Don't run away from your words.

trend
noun
1.the general course or prevailing tendency

That's not dismissive, that's an acknowledgement of popularity.  Quit being so defensive.

And I'm not stupid enough to not realise a big 3D function slider on my own console. I said "games that do not require the use of the 3D", and by that I mean from the developent teams that spend time making the little pop-out effect work instead of dedicating that time to making a game better. I do, however, know that by simply taking out the 3D functionality, frees quite alot of space for processing. Processing that can be used to make the game better, rather than being used for hollywood's main gimmick. By "full power", I mean that they're purposedly limiting themselves with the 3D, for the sake of doing that little pop-up feature the console has. I did not mean they needed to use the full graphical power that the console can achieve.

When you speak to players of what a game requires, they generally take that to mean what it requires from the player, unless specified otherwise.  You said nothing of development and you wouldn't be the first person to ignore the slider.  Choose your words more carefully.

In a polygon game, stereoscopic 3D is little more than displaying two camera angles.  The development time is insignificant, nowhere near the required effort of, say, a 3D Classic (which requires remaking the entire game).  It does demand extra power from the system, for sure, but I already addressed that in my last post.  Games can respond to the 3D slider, and doubling the framerate while the 3D is off has been going on since launch day.  If they're killing the framerate rather than the environment to get 3D, then they're not going to make a much better-looking game without killing both.  It's been a criticism of some of the early fighting games, one of the areas where the 3DS was supposed to be strong.

Considering how many games on the Gamecube's successor look worse than a Gamecube launch title, I don't expect that third parties under-performing on 3DS has anything to do with 3D.  Poor development is poor development, and as we see in games like Star Fox and RE Revelations, solid development should be able to produce strong visuals with or without 3D.  However, third parties have not been willing to put their best foot forward with Nintendo.  The lesson they learned over the last console generation is to release shovelware to take advantage of the sheer numbers of Nintendo's userbase, and if Nintendo fails to generate a userbase ten times that of their competitors, they will surely go bankrupt.

It's no wonder Nintendo system owners don't want to buy non-Nintendo games.

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Gaming / Re: Official Nintendo 3DS Discussion Thread - Specs, Tech, Price? It's all here!

« on: September 11, 2011, 07:52:38 PM »

That may be what you meant, but it's not what you said.  And the rest of the internet tries to go on the latter rather than guess at the earlier.

There are already games that bump up the framerate while the 3D is off.  And supposedly Shin Megami Tensei doesn't use the 3D at all outside of the opening cinematic.  It certainly doesn't push the system visually, though; evidently the devs just didn't feel like using it.

Trying to give yourself as an example for the whole world, isn't really valid.

I don't know why you insist that my expressing a personal preference equals a movement to abolish an industry standard.

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Gaming / Re: Official Nintendo 3DS Discussion Thread - Specs, Tech, Price? It's all here!

« on: September 11, 2011, 07:08:43 AM »

I love Double Dash, but I don't think it's all that graphically impressive.

Star Fox 64 DS looks positively gorgeous; its visuals are considerably better than OoT 3D's, and with the exception of the in-ship animal heads, it leaves few if any "primitive" remnants of the original the way that OoT 3D did with its various boss monsters (among other things).  It's no RE:Revelations (not as if a certain third party didn't put Nintendo to shame on the GCN), and it is kinda sad that we only saw the first Nintendo game to push Nintendo's hardware this week.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again:  There is no way, between Kid Icarus (granted Sakurai isn't reliable with dates) and two N64 ports, that none of that could have been ready for launch.  Nintendo gave the third parties some extra rope, and the third parties hanged themselves.  Sure, the hardware was pricey, but outside of ports (even some outstanding ports), the software ranges from abysmal to nonexistant until November or so.

Monster Hunter...and most other non-fixed camera games NEED to have a dual analog system

270 hours of hunting and half a dozen Azure Dragongems have proven to me that dual analogue is not the gameplay necessity that many would have us believe.

But to be clear, I am not saying that dual analogue should be abandoned.  That would be foolish.  It is extremely valuable for marketing purposes (my negativity towards the 3DS add-on is due to the fact that those who actually want it likely won't care for the extra bulk and will continue bitching that it should have been built-in in the first place), as it removes a potential barrier to a wide range of experienced gamers.  Even if a new control setup is perfectly functional, to omit a previously established standard is to risk alienating your previously established audience.

It's just as true of button layouts as it is dual-analogue, and I've already raised hell over it long ago (see Star Fox Command).

I noticed this too. However, the reason seems to be simply it doesn't handle skin oil build up as well as ridged ones. Simply wipe your circle pad off, and your thumb off, and it'll be fine. That's all I had to do.

I'll have to keep that in mind.  It's pretty much just OoT where I had issues, though.

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Gaming / Re: The "What are you currently playing?" Thread

« on: September 10, 2011, 04:48:52 PM »

On the home console front, currently hacking the crap out of New Super Mario Bros. Wii's soundtrack, thanks to Riivolution and the like.

Lineland Road music

in a true platformer, for the win baby!

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DASH / Re: In-depth opinions on L3 Prototype by Chris Hoffman

« on: September 10, 2011, 04:45:58 PM »

Soundtracks and repackagings of games we already own. Heck, I bought those two for a fiver on discount, doubt it'll be as much of a good deal.

They'll probably just tell Inti to piece together some budget Megaman 11 so fans can keep busy.

Don't take this the wrong way, Batty, but it's a sad day when I see one of your posts as being optimistic.

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Gaming / Re: Sonic Generations (360, PS3, 3DS) - Holiday 2011

« on: September 10, 2011, 04:40:38 PM »

Oh, quit your bitching and enjoy your non-Gecko-loaded Xenoblade.

I agree, though, nothing wrong with throwing different regions a bone as far as collectibles go.  It's not as if every promotional/customer-gratitude package to exist here in the U.S. made it to the rest of the world, and CERTAINLY not every one from Japan did.

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Gaming / Re: Official Nintendo 3DS Discussion Thread - Specs, Tech, Price? It's all here!

« on: September 10, 2011, 04:34:38 PM »

You evil pirating swine.

*hides his romhacks*

Funny how people are being so resistant about this. The exclusion of a second analog from the 3DS proved Nintendo's completely out of date when it comes to allowing developers to use a console for any third dimensional game that doesn't feature fixed camera angles. Doesn't really matter what anyone says, if you ask anyone if the DS had any good FPS or TPS games, most people will just go "No." The reason the console wasn't popular with that kind of genre, was because of the lack of a second analog, something which is VERY much needed for most modern games nowadays. MUCH better than triggers, claw grip or even controlling the camera through the DS screen, something which completely takes away any ergonomic capacities away from the console.

Looks like you're gonna have to learn the equivalent of how to ride a bike when you're 40, Hypy.

I'll grant you the ergonomic issues, but there is some degree of subjectivity to that.  That's why the Options menu exists.  The touch screen generally offers less comfort but greater precision, whether or not the tradeoff is worth it varies by the individual.

And sorry to disappoint you, but I plan to continue riding my horse. Dual analogue is a decade old, BE, and I've been gaming that entire time.  It's not as vital as you think when you lack interest in the FPS genre to begin with.  And even if I do expand my horizons (which I did at last year's NYCC), there are other options.  Its supposed necessity is the result of a trend, not of practicality.  The 360 is the only system left, current or upcoming, that has two sticks, but does not have either a touch-screen or a pointer.

Of course, in the world of marketing, trends can be just as powerful as practicality.

I think most are resistant towards the fact that they didn't design it into the device itself. Even if they don't know it or admit it.

Sounds logical to me.  If you want it, you likely believe it should have been in the system at the start.  If you don't, you wouldn't have given a damn if it was in the system at the start.

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Gaming / Re: Official Nintendo 3DS Discussion Thread - Specs, Tech, Price? It's all here!

« on: September 10, 2011, 08:09:54 AM »

My hands are humongous.  However, I had no issues with my DSi, which is about the same size as the 3DS.

1089

Gaming / Re: The "What are you currently playing?" Thread

« on: September 10, 2011, 08:08:09 AM »

Like OoT, it's on the Wii for a quarter of the price.  You're paying for the makeover and the fact that it's portable.  To me it's well worth it; the presentation is much better and the shorter, replayable "arcade style" of Star Fox 64 is a better fit for a handheld.  I predict this will be my main 3DS game until either Mario, Sonic, or Pit provide something original.

Unlike OoT, they didn't pull any punches so far as graphics go (besides maybe the fact that the in-ship animal heads still don't have mouths, but I think that's getting nitpicky); the visuals are GORGEOUS.  Soundtrack is remastered as well, and awesome.  All bosses have their names and descriptions displayed at the start of battle, kinda like a console Zelda game.  Fortuna was renamed Fichina.  The game auto-saves at every stage, so if you get interrupted, you're not losing much.

I can't really test the battle mode since I lack people to play with locally.  There is a Vs. CPU option, but I can't get that into it.  Landmaster and rocket launcher seem to be gone.

There's a new Score Attack mode, so you can replay any stage you want whenever.  They also added a new "Trial Run" course, a long enclosed corridor with obstacles to dodge (kinda like flying in the giant Space Armada ships on the SNES), where three collisions = failure.  The original Training course is now required before starting your first game for some reason.

The game has "3DS Mode" and "N64 mode" with separate medal counts.  I'm guessing that's just a fancy way of saying Easy/Normal, except that the gyro controls only work in 3DS Mode.

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DASH / Re: In-depth opinions on L3 Prototype by Chris Hoffman

« on: September 10, 2011, 06:39:22 AM »

Something I found interesting is that none of this matters at all because the game isn't happening.

It's been almost 3 months since it was cancelled now, don't you think it's time to just let it go?

Nope.

We're fans.  We move on, but only when there's something to move on to.  Time is irrelevant without new events to fill that time.  The cancellation of Legends 3 is still the most recent/significant Legends news out there.  Quite frankly I expect that to remain unchanged for the next couple of years.  Three months is NOTHING.

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Gaming / Re: Official Nintendo 3DS Discussion Thread - Specs, Tech, Price? It's all here!

« on: September 10, 2011, 06:25:39 AM »

I don't have little girly thumbs that fit into the slide-pad's depression.

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Gaming / Re: The "What are you currently playing?" Thread

« on: September 10, 2011, 05:25:56 AM »

I actually find the best place to gather souls being the sub in Launch Octopus's stage.  I believe that is the fastest enemy spawn point in the game; just leave the sub alive and keep showing the claws that come out.

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DASH / In-depth opinions on L3 Prototype by Chris Hoffman

« on: September 10, 2011, 05:23:13 AM »

http://www.gamesradar.com/exclusive-only-journalist-ever-play-mega-man-legends-3/?page=1

Nintendo Power's Chris Hoffman answers some in-depth questions on the Legends 3 prototype.

New and classic control setups, debug options like gravity shifting, brief descriptions of the 10 missions, and some foreshadowing as to the final plot.  Lots of juicy stuff, more than enough to fuel the rage of those who will never see it.

Something I found interesting is that even though one of the missions involves Barrett helping Roll with her rocket, another has him fighting against a robot that she designed (thanks to the town's chief of police/Aero's dad).

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Gaming / Re: The "What are you currently playing?" Thread

« on: September 10, 2011, 04:03:32 AM »

Barrel-rolling in 3D.  Presentation-wise, Star Fox kicks the crap out of OoT.

Mega Man Xtreme (GB). My god, Extreme doesn't live up to it's name, doesn't it? Essentially, after two runs before this mode you'd pretty know where everything IS by the time you get to play it. Doesn't help that you take the same amount of damage in all three modes, unlike Rocket Knight Adventures. 

Posted on: September 08, 2011, 10:25:03 PMCleared Mega Man Xtreme with everything included. Final Time: 04:35.

You had DAMN WELL BETTER be playing Xtreme2 afterwards.

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Gaming / Re: Official Nintendo 3DS Discussion Thread - Specs, Tech, Price? It's all here!

« on: September 10, 2011, 04:01:42 AM »

Using the touch screen for long periods of time can cause hand cramps quite easily. It has happened before. The second stick should naturally be more comfortable to use, especially when compared to touch screen heavy games, like I mentioned before: Kid Icarus.

I never said it wouldn't; I've played Metroid Prime Hunters to completion, you know.

What I said was that I don't expect the slide pad to be much more ergonomic.  The slide pad is not ridged as Nintendo's usual analogue sticks are; you have to put a fair amount of pressure on it to keep your grip.  Extended play sessions with OoT 3D was the first time I got a portable hand cramp since owning my original phat DS, and that's a game you play with buttons.

That and the lack of an octagonal frame (no tactile sense of direction; makes that warp in SF64 a bit trickier) are the two biggest head-scratchers of the 3DS for me.  It's something Nintendo's been doing for the last three console generations and I don't know why they stopped now.

Despite the reduction in accuracy, a capacitive touch screen would get rid of a lot of the things that make using a resistive touch screen annoying. But no, we have to keep compatibility for DS games.

To hell with DS compatability; for controlling a targeting reticle on a 3" screen, a reduction in accuracy would be CONSIDERABLY more annoying than any issue the current model has.

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Gaming / Re: Monster Hunter General Thread

« on: September 09, 2011, 03:34:44 AM »

Well, if that isn't finding the cloud in the silver lining.

"Switch" as in you can turn it off, Arche.  Besides, generally if a monster blindsides you, it feels more cheap than it does challenging.  The only monster who hides is Gobul, and he kinda sucks at it.

Honestly, if I was worried about any addition making the game less challenging, it'd be Kayanba.  The more brainless CPU targets a monster has to chase, the more free hits you get.  But then, you always had the option of leaving Cha Cha behind, and I expect the same is true of the new guy.

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Gaming / Re: Official Nintendo 3DS Discussion Thread - Specs, Tech, Price? It's all here!

« on: September 09, 2011, 03:20:29 AM »

Given the lack of grip on the 3DS slide-pad(s), I doubt that.  The extra girth might help those of us with larger hands, but that's about it.

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Gaming / Re: Monster Hunter General Thread

« on: September 09, 2011, 03:16:42 AM »

- There is also, of course, the slide-pad attachment, which Tsujimoto called a "secret weapon" crafted so players could play 3G with the same control feel as the original Tri.

Am I the only one who played Tri with the remote/nunchuck and liked it?  I'm just wondering how freakish it is that I don't consider the Classic Controller Pro to be the be-all-end-all of a game like Monster Hunter.

Posted on: September 07, 2011, 10:10:27 PMJapanese website is up!

-Artwork of Rathian, Rathalos, and two new monsters.  One is apparently the punching goo-spewing Brute Wyvern previously mentioned.  The other is a new member of the Rath- family, capable of both flying and swimming.
-There's a new kid from Cha-Cha's tribe, "Kayanba", who wears a blue mask.  You can bring both of them along at the same time.
-4-player local multiplayer.  Haven't seen any mention of online (yet).
-A new port/town "Tangier".  Moga Village is mentioned, but not Loc Lac.
-Touch screen is said to be customizable.  The example shown includes 4 panels: a map (obviously), a second D-Pad, your items, and a "lock-on" switch that lets you set the camera to automatically follow a monster.
-Hardware screens as of yet do not feature the second circle pad expansion.
-"New" weapons include the return of Bows and Dual Swords.  There's a few screens of them being used underwater.

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Gaming / Re: Official Nintendo 3DS Discussion Thread - Specs, Tech, Price? It's all here!

« on: September 09, 2011, 02:26:16 AM »

I can kinda see Nintendo's logic in that realistically the touch screen should more than compensate as an instrument to aim with.  With extra touch-icons on the screen it's considerably more versatile for such games (see Metroid Prime Hunters), and in that sense, a second stick is truly pointless.  There is absolutely no reason this peripheral should ever be required.  However, there are certain people who simply will not be broken of their old trends, both players and developers.

1100

Gaming / Re: I did it once and I'll never do it again!

« on: September 08, 2011, 04:07:27 AM »

Megaman X6: Rescuing reploids and the first two fortress stages makes me want to gag thinking about it.

Well, that comment made me feel a lot more manly if not a little insane; thank you.

(I've rescued every Reploid with no special weapons at least four times, and I cannot hope to count the number of times I've replayed Gate's Lab)