Messages

2551

Gaming / Re: The Official Pokemon Heart Gold & Soul Silver Discussion Thread

« on: April 07, 2010, 01:11:12 AM »

At least you have enough letters.  I hate character limits, but THUNDRZORD can live with them.

2552

Gaming / Re: Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (Wii, PS3, 360)

« on: April 07, 2010, 01:10:17 AM »

or Shelly from liking X6

I'm not sure how "in the same way" that is.  My posts praising X6 very frequently compare it to its immediate predecessor, X5, on the standpoints of level design, power-up implementation, and accessibility between the playable characters (and, although a lesser point, boss-Zero AI).  I'd say that falls well within your boundaries of argument that you defined in the first paragraph.

2553

Gaming / Re: The Official Pokemon Heart Gold & Soul Silver Discussion Thread

« on: April 07, 2010, 01:02:36 AM »

I burned about 1,500 watts in Yellow Forest yesterday.  The sad thing is, having encountered 6 or more rare Pikachus (you can tell by how many steps grass-chases it takes to find them, thankfully), I caught only 2.  That Critical Hit rate has *GOT* to be rigged.

Anyways, wound up with one each of Volt Tackle, Surf, and regular Pikachus.  Still looking for Flying.

Hey does anyone have an idea what would be better a Jynx with all Special Attacks or a Mamoswine with Rest, Sleep Talk, Avalanche, Earthquake and low speed or any combination of attacks?

"Better" depends on what exactly you're trying to do.

I will say, though, I tried the Rest/Sleep Talk combination once, with Shuckle, and vowed to never try it again.  There's every chance in the world that Sleep Talk will choose Rest, thus wasting your turn anyway.  For all the flak that tournament players give against "luck-based" tactics (evasion/accuracy, King's Rock, etc.), I'm amazed that strategy passes as acceptable.

I would call Mamoswine the overall better Pokemon, (definitely the best Ice Shard user, although so much so that your opponent will probably expect it).  Jynx's defense is simply terrible; she's toast in the face of any physical attack.  But she does possess the 2nd strongest STAB Ice Beam (Glaceon being the strongest), so she could make a mean Choice Scarf revenge killer.

2554

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

« on: April 07, 2010, 12:10:09 AM »

Late April Fools.  Nice render, but jaggy edges (most obvious when the screen is dark) give it away, as does the general ergonomic nightmare of the L/R buttons.

2555

News and Announcements / Re: More R10 DLC screens, to invade our festive April month

« on: April 06, 2010, 11:32:25 PM »

Having played Xtreme2 to hell and back doing the Down+B to dash isn't all that awkward (although double-tapping 2 for a dash-jump doesn't feel as sensitive as it should; I'm having a hard time dash-jumping from a standstill).  Even having played MM&B, though, the inability to move and shoot is not a limitation you expect in an NES game, so that takes some getting used to.  Also, in NES body-to-screen-size proportions, you're shooting much further, so the blind spots between your shooting directions are a lot more apparent.  Still, playing as Bass is awesome.

Enker is a [sonic slicer].  That is all.

2556

Gaming / Re: The Official Pokemon Heart Gold & Soul Silver Discussion Thread

« on: April 03, 2010, 06:12:27 PM »

Lugia apparently loves me.  Went into the very first Heavy Ball I tossed at him.

(and no, I did not hold anything, just Thunder Wave and HP in the red).

2557

Gaming / Re: Can sequelitis be a bad thing?

« on: April 03, 2010, 05:13:10 PM »

I'd say X4 and X6 were a lot more fun than X8...

I was crediting Kaji with X and Inafune with Zero. And not just them; all the people involved in seeing the X series through over the years.

So when did any besides Inafune express a desire to end the series at X5?  If you can't answer that, your statement is still false.

I don't think this will EVER get resolved, and the series and Capcom's bottom line will suffer for it.

Sans Wily, which wouldn't have changed whether they ended the series at X5 or not (if anything X6 at least makes his presence more believable; Zero's creator should not have left him for dead that easily), there is very little in the X-series that was left unresolved.  Most of it is the fans simply not paying attention.

But Falcon did have invincible flight, which more than made up for it in the context of X5's stage layouts. And Gaia's main strengths were in good use of the Ultimate attack as well as lightning-fast full charges.

No argument from me.  But Shadow's strengths of spike invulnerability and ludicrously powerful charged saber are just as valid.  Blade, I can't really defend; I honestly believe that armor was made so that if a sequel recycled past armor as X5/X6 did, they wouldn't have to water it down.

Unless there's some kind of Part kerfunkery going on here with X's Air Dash, you pretty well can't get the Shadow Armor without the Blade Armor's Mach Dash.

That statement could not possibly be more wrong.

First of all: Zero.

Even going the X-solo route, "part kerfunkery" gets you wherever you need to go, no weapons.

You don't like parts?  Well, going X-solo and completely part-less, you need only Ice Burst and Metal Anchor (and no, I am not referring to pause physics exploiting; I don't do that).  It doesn't even require an air-dash, so you can do it unarmored if you're feeling crazy enough.

This is EXACTLY what I mean when I say that people who complain about X6's obstacles give up too easily.  The level design is far better balanced, and "impossible" obstacles far less frequent, than most people think.

There are areas of X6 that the Shadow Armor can't even get through without the aid of Parts. Falcon and Gaia in X5, not so.

I've been over this a zillion times, air-dash is a default feature of X6 (your default character is Falcon, not unarmored, which exists solely for challenge).  You should not be sacrificing that without being aware of where it'll cause you problems.  X6 is considerably more open in structure than other games of the series, that comes with some level of responsibility for the player.  Granted an always-enabled stage exit as opposed to Start/Select would have streamlined things, but the end result is the same (outside of X Collection which axed the Use Previous Data option).

There's a reason parts in X5 are useless, because they are considerably easier to miss than any amount of Nightmare-eaten Reploids in X6.  Again, a completion rate higher than 50% of parts, and 66% of life/weapon Ups, is completely impossible within the game.  Not only that but what parts you're gaining and what part you're sacrificing during the crucial "weapons and..." choice are not in any way indicated, so it cannot be planned without previous knowledge.  There's no sense in it.  Besides getting Zero to a few otherwise impossible locations (and his lack of access is another major complaint of X5, there are a fair share of power-ups he cannot reach), the vast majority of them are not in the least useful.  Speedster/Falcon is one of the major exceptions.

Can't much be considered a hard or hardcore game if you "tank" a character, at that point.

That's a subjective argument.  Any amount of defenses can be worn down, the level to which enemy numbers/strength make it fair or challenging is up to personal preference.  But I think most can tell you that X6's mobs are crazy enough that you can't be too lax.  Some of the boss attacks are rather powerful, too, particularly Nightmare Mother.

I should probably note at this point that I play X6 on exclusively on Xtreme mode (as I do with any other X-game with variable difficulty).  I can't vouch for damage rates on the other settings.

The definition of a "true" challenge is also HIGHLY subjective.  If you have limited yourself (BTW I have done Gate's Lab unarmored), you're pulling punches, and to me that is a fake challenge.  It says that you're only having a hard time because you're not taking your opponent seriously in the first place.  A true challenge is one which remains challenging after you have used your arsenal to its fullest extent.  Most of Inticreates games are baby simple by such a standard.  Some, such as Z2 and ZX, don't even allow such a scenario, as the game mechanics render a fully powered player against a fully powered boss completely impossible.

that they didn't need much extra save for the Weapons, Heart Tanks, and Sub (and W and Life) Tanks.

The fact that X5 is counter-productive to this in its part layout is one of my many gripes with it.  Between the Energy/Life Ups, it's fairly obvious that Zero is in greater need of Life (lacking armor, and access to several Heart Tanks) while X is in greater need of Energy (special weapon consumption).  But their character-specific parts are more often than not tied the opposite way.

Which is what X6 should have done given how useful, even necessary, some Parts were to X6's stage layouts.

There is no instance in which parts are necessary for Blade Armor to clear a stage.  Same holds for Ultimate, and for Zero.  Only Falcon, unarmored, and Shadow are applicable.  In other words, your default form, and whatever is less mobile than your default form.  Your default form is stuck ONLY in the beginning of the first stage of the game's final stretch, no big loss if you need to Start/Select out and grab Jumper.  Shadow, lacking one of your default abilities, is stuck only one stage later.  In the game's final stretch, there is no excuse for not being adequately equipped.  Especially not since, as you so adequately pointed out, even obtaining the Shadow Armor requires either a firm grasp of the game's physics and obstacles, or an appreciation of the Mach Dash.

The idea is that the parts allow you to counter-balance Shadow's weaknesses, something X5's Gaia really desperately needed.  In the same manner, Overdrive can compensate for its lack of special weapons, allowing you to lay the smack-down on bosses that much faster.

Along with the occasional secret. The Ultimate X Armor and Dark Zero Armor are proof-positive that the developers did indeed get lazy on us. X1 had the Hadoken, X2 had the Shoryuken, X3 had the Chips, Gold Armor, and Z-Saber. X4, Ultimate and Dark. Fine. X5? Ultimate and Dark. ...what, again? X6? Ultimate and Dark. Okay, now it's just getting old.

To be fair, Zero is not supposed to be armored (barring whatever technical leap goes on in 22XX), so Black Zero as a recurring theme is as natural as his ground-punching.  Furthermore, even though they're visually the same, their abilities have varied title-to-title.  X4 did nothing, X5 had virus-busting, and X6 had an attack boost.

Ultimate Armor I'll give you, but at least in X6 the Ultimate Armor was actually unique compared to the game's pre-existing arsenal (even if I do find it odd that it was not given a specialty saber attack).  Not so in X4 and X5, where it is simply infinite Nova Strike (Seriously, why did X5 not start you with Stock Charge?  It'd have made so much more sense.).

and makes the Saber the strongest weapon in the game even so much as crippling the final boss when it had usually been about Mega Man X and the buster on his arm knowing his fate.

Said quote is from before the saber existed.  Said saber is only the strongest weapon when combined with said buster (Shadow Armor).  Said buster, also allows manhandling certain bosses without even having to move (Wolfang and Sigma's first form in particular).

As for the final boss, he died three weeks ago, his weakness is to be expected.  That said, I find it refreshing to have the good guys playing offense for a change, rather than waiting patiently for Sigma to retry annihilating the planet.

2558

Gaming / Re: The Official Pokemon Heart Gold & Soul Silver Discussion Thread

« on: April 03, 2010, 04:12:16 AM »

Relevant:

You have to love tricks that have about the same odds of being entered correctly as you do of making a successful capture normally.

(It does NOTHING; just a popular rumor, and it feels nice to have something to do)

So does anyone have advice on catching the two other than using mean look and taunt to keep them from running/roaring?

You mean that actually works?  I'd assumed they possessed a magical ability to run in spite of Mean Look, seeings how I've already known the 4th-gen roaming 'mans to run away in their sleep.

Spore and False Swipe (TM54).  Best friends of anyone making a capture.  Some specialty Pokeball would be handy, too.  Fast Balls could work.  Dusk Ball if you're doing this at night.  Level Balls in the unlikely event you have a Level 80+ 'man.  Quick Ball might work; I'm not sure if it counts previous encounters as turns since the roaming 'mans do not heal.

[tornado fang]ing Yellow Forest. This [parasitic bomb] is further attempt to make people walk more by making the Pikachus people actually care about getting impossibly hard to get!

It is ridiculous, isn't it?  Something like a 2 or 3 percent chance of getting one of the Pikachus that has the special moves, and even that's only after an insane number of steps.

The fact that said moves are not breedable (besides Volt Tackle) makes it all the more fun, since you're at the mercy of random Natures.

2559

Gaming / Re: Can sequelitis be a bad thing?

« on: April 03, 2010, 03:53:37 AM »

against the will of the creators of the series

It's "creator", singular, and such comments glaze over the fact that Inafune didn't give a rat's ass about the series finale in the first place.  If some effort was put into creating a decent series ending then that would be one thing, but one turning their back on the series is quite another.  Inafune told the team to end it and, by his own admission, "had very little to do with X5."  Hell, he didn't even create the title character of the X-series.  Hayato Kaji did that.

Mega Man X6 was produced and carried on an even more confusing and plotholed story from where X5 left off and was supposed to give a great series a decently-fitting end with Wily cameos and Zero becoming Maverick, not to mention Ultimate Armor Sigma.

Zero becoming Maverick is an alternate scenario, one unfitting with him retaining his heroic role a century or more later.  Wily cameos are highly passive and unresolved; if X5 was to be the end then Sigma's taunting leaves one hell of a loose end.  Sigma's death is poorly explained, not that future attempts did any better.  The only "finality" of the game is the fact that the co-star, Zero, is dead.  And his death is truly in vain, having accomplished nothing that one wouldn't expect a hero to actually live through.  Slapping the player in the face with that detail is the 50/50 chance that X and not Zero is standing right in front of the explosion that kills Zero.  And finally, which makes more sense, that Zero was retrieved and revived in a matter of weeks by what is likely an avatar of his creator (as X was in a matter of days by his), or that his corpse was left in a forgotten field of debris until an elf paid him a visit next century?

While useful in some instances, the Blade and Shadow armors were not flexible and useful in every situation

Pot calling the kettle black considering the limitations of Gaia, which couldn't even dash at full speed; and Falcon, which offered no chargeable weapons and a harder to aim shot.  Furthering the point, X6's armors are more readily available, and may be collected as the player sees fit to provide decent use of either (not that Blade is all that worth it, unless you're into Mach Dashing).  In X5, this is not the case.  Gaia is completely impossible to obtain without Falcon, meaning you will not have completed it without having already visited all 8 stages (and having required to clear 3 of Falcon's stages, for necessary special weapons, so you can't even suicide your way to early armor to correct this).  And the first Zero Virus stage, your first test drive of the armor, is exactly where Gaia's limitations hurt it the most and leave you in instant death traps.  In virtually no other MegaMan game is power-up availability even an issue, by nature of the stage select system.  That X5 managed to screw it up that badly is pitiful.

Speaking of stage select, X5 really kills that aspect of the MegaMan name with the obvious intended order of Crescent-to-Rosered.  Say what you want about split weapon cycles, there are instances where it is called for.  X5 was definitely such a case.

the stress of the Parts System.

DO NOT get me started about the stress of X5's part system.  Ask anyone who has seen me rant about it before.  It is the single most ill-conceived power up layout that any MegaMan game has ever seen, rewarding you for repeated suicide, punishing you for actually fighting, never allowing more than 50% completion, requiring repeated suicide to even reach that, and senselessly tying parts together in counter-productive combinations, particularly the character-specific ones.  The more ignorant you are as to how it works, the better.

And as far as constant game stress goes, never underestimate the value of the Select button.  Something X5's devs forgot when doing Alia.

that's open to all sorts of untold programming abuses and glitches that would break the game

Not that it's helpful or even relevant to my argument, but Xtreme2 wants a word with you.

There was also a need for increased flexibility when the designers wanted the Nightmare System to randomly generate stages, but that was more than likely dropped due to...

Get equipped with "translation errors."  Unless of course you still believe there's a female impersonator in Command Mission, that Xtreme2 takes place in a bathroom, that both X7 and X8 are 2-player, and that nobody realizes that X is in his office in X7.

those like me who want a powerful protagonist worthy of backing justice

One could easily argue that X6 provides this on a level that no other entry in the series has, as the extent to which you can tank up your character once the ludicrous restrictions of X5 have been lifted is POSITIVELY MASSIVE.  X6 isn't just hard, it's rewarding, because when you've clawed your way through all the Reploid rescues and Nightmare Soul collection, you have built your character into a freaking engine of destruction; a tank that can plow through insane enemy mobs and realistically remain standing through it all without the need to memorize every bullet in the stage (compare to any Inticreates game where challenge is achieved by handicapping the player).  That's what I love so much about Gate's Lab.

I'm not saying X6 is the best way to handle the series in general, or even that it's fiscally responsible.  It is something that a "hardcore player" (I hate that label, but for lack of a better term) can appreciate, and I'm glad it happened, but it should remain a one-shot deal.  Nobody ever said that a series of Lost Levels would have kept Mario successful.

That being said, X6 corrected a great deal of X5's flaws, both in mechanics and in story.  There are definitely certain elements of it that the series could stand to revisit, most notably the philosophy of avoiding special weapons as pre-requisites for obtaining other power-ups.  Seriously, I want to smack whoever came up with charged Crystal Wall.  There's also the aesthetic appeal of mugshots that properly display your armor, something no other post-X4 game has really gotten right.

2560

Gaming / Re: Can sequelitis be a bad thing?

« on: April 02, 2010, 10:22:35 PM »

Mega Man X5 -> Mega Man X6

X5 and X6 utterly convinced me that there is no true guarantee of relating development time with quality of the product, as the latter is obviously more rushed (boss sprites) and yet is still far more fun and generally better thought out.  No matter what complaints one may draw against the Nightmare System, it does not compare to the most ass-backwards power-up, armor, and ranking setups that I can possibly imagine, Zero's legendary boss AI stupidity, and one of the most pointless character deaths imaginable (Let's kill him in a BOSS EXPLOSION. *facepalm*).

It really depends.  There are obvious instances where a tight time limit is detrimental (read: Sonic), but all the dev time in the world doesn't do jack if the crew doesn't pay attention to what they're doing.

So yeah, it can be bad or good.  But to go with the "Star Fox Assault" mention above, I frankly think that more flight games NEED to see some sequelitis.  Every time somebody takes a good fighter pilot out for an on-foot adventure, it's a recipe for disaster.  If it wasn't for the TIE Bomber I'd probably never look at Star Wars Rebel Strike's single-player mode again.

2561

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

« on: April 02, 2010, 03:57:21 PM »

Oh, what a curse it is that the best Wii online game is the worst Mario Kart game...  Oh well, axing the CPU does help a little.

I'm rotating between Pokemon SoulSilver and Ghostbusters (Wii), the latter I 100% cleared yesterday.  Then I started again as the girl.

2562

General / Re: Change my nickname, please

« on: April 02, 2010, 03:47:50 PM »

Good show, folks.  Seriously, though, if you were going to screw with my name, going the L1 route with Spread Buster would have at least kept the sense of pyromania.

2563

Original / Re: Should MM11 (if it's made) be 8Bit?

« on: April 02, 2010, 02:42:40 AM »

I'm sure it'll grow thin, but it hasn't yet.  So yeah, I'd fully expect MM11 to be NES-styled.  It'll probably take another two or three years before it stops selling.  Then maybe Inafune can try an X-series revival again (and hopefully not limit it to a single mediocre-selling platform).

2564

Gaming / Re: Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (Wii, PS3, 360)

« on: April 02, 2010, 01:57:18 AM »

You gained a lot more with a fire shield.

In the few games where homing attack and spin dash have co-existed, spin dash gave you much more speed.  It's very, very noticeable when going for the emblems in SA1.

2565

Gaming / Re: The Official Pokemon Heart Gold & Soul Silver Discussion Thread

« on: April 01, 2010, 10:03:48 PM »

Speaking of getting rid of 'mans, I need to stick a few into GTS sometime.  You get an extra Pokewalker course for doing an international trade.

Am I the only one who NEVER uses the bike because I want to see my Pokemon following me at all times.

Not in the least.  I may axe the bike entirely from my shortcuts once I get GB Sound (Dowsing gets the touch icon).  All I can say is, thank God the running shoes have an on/off switch instead of having to hold B the entire game.

2566

Gaming / Re: The Official Pokemon Heart Gold & Soul Silver Discussion Thread

« on: April 01, 2010, 06:55:10 PM »

....Wow, I was just trying to be funny and everyone points out every single insinuated and actual death in the series....

And to think we're not even done yet:

I would assume so, since nothing else would've brought it back it seemed.

If immediate revival counts, then Ash gets multiple entries.  At least two that I recall (Mew/Mewtwo crossfire and taking leave of his body in Lavender Town).

GB Sounds + Rematches with Gym Leaders = GRINDING LIKE [tornado fang]

Can't argue with that one.  I expect much grinding after I've cleared the game.

So anyways, got the Yellow Forest Mystery Gift, needed to axe my shiny (probably hacked, I got it in a trade) Dragonite for an electric/ground/grass type to lower the ludicrous step requirements.  And what do you know, spikey-eared Pichu appears properly in the Pokewalker.  Guess that's one thing it's good for besides early game glass cannon.

2567

Gaming / Re: Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (Wii, PS3, 360)

« on: April 01, 2010, 06:50:59 PM »

You know, with this whole "gain speed too easily" talk......am I the only one who remembers the spin-dash?

2568

Gaming / Re: The Official Pokemon Heart Gold & Soul Silver Discussion Thread

« on: April 01, 2010, 03:31:00 AM »

Or they could have lived off of fish and water extracted from the atmosphere until Mewtwo buried them alive under the new lab.

AND the death of AiTwo. Let's not forget about that eh?

I assume Ai is Amber's japanese name?  Three 'mans died with her, as well.

Also, Latios.

2569

Gaming / Re: Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (Wii, PS3, 360)

« on: April 01, 2010, 03:17:18 AM »

Playing as R.O.B. on the other hand...

R.O.B.'s Final Smash is INFINITELY cheaper than Sonic's.  At least with Sonic there's the off chance of dodging if your opponent lacks the sense/dexterity to hover.

2570

Gaming / Re: The Official Pokemon Heart Gold & Soul Silver Discussion Thread

« on: March 31, 2010, 04:28:04 AM »

I'm up the creek in that department as well.  I read one series religiously, but I think it's a safe bet that PB isn't carrying a Weedle named Taxxon.

2571

Gaming / Re: Let's Speculate About Wii 2

« on: March 31, 2010, 04:21:34 AM »

Irregardless of the fact that our "core" offerings thus far already equal or surpass what we got last generation.  About the only thing GCN had that we're still missing is F-Zero.

People just can't co-exist with casual games without wetting their pants in terror.

They were expecting more.

How do you get more than record-breaking?  You're just trying to justify gossip.

And it just generally gets a bad review, deservedly.

*EVERY* disc-based Wii game that is not titled, "Super Mario Sunshine" gets a generally bad review.  And as much as I miss my Mewtwo, Brawl is a beacon of awesome in itself, let alone compared to the kick in the teeth that was Mario Kart Wii.

Brawl generally gets a bad rep from fans because they cannot fathom physics engines changing between titles (funny, you'd think somebody would have remembered how less than seamless the 64-to-Melee transition was).  And it generally gets a bad rep from journalists for being a sequel.

In other words, the "fans" (read: tourneyfags) hate it because they changed it, and the editors hate it because they didn't.  So whatever illusion of consensus you're trying to come up with is completely pointless.

2572

Gaming / Re: The Official Pokemon Heart Gold & Soul Silver Discussion Thread

« on: March 31, 2010, 04:10:12 AM »

As for Tolls it could be his Snolax since he blocks your way

Perhaps, though by that logic it could also be a Sudowoodo.

2573

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

« on: March 31, 2010, 04:08:41 AM »

The reason you can't transfer to the XL is that the pixels are bigger and require more licensing costs.

...what?

2574

Gaming / Re: Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (Wii, PS3, 360)

« on: March 31, 2010, 04:05:37 AM »

So the semi-Genesis-chiptuned tracks are confirmed, eh?  Well, Splash Hill and Boss 2 aren't that bad (and this wouldn't be the first Sonic game to have a sucky Act1 boss theme).

Destroys my dream of a Crush40 theme appearing as a stage Super Sonic track, but I knew that was hoping for too much.

although his speed in comparison to his running animations seems a bit off...

Typical of Dimps.  In the Rush games, Sonic seems to slide/hover as he starts running.

2575

Gaming / Re: The Official Pokemon Heart Gold & Soul Silver Discussion Thread

« on: March 31, 2010, 04:02:56 AM »

I'd assume Silverhawk is Skarmory?
EDITS: That's what I get for skimming at late hours.

Tolls, Tolls......  That's a tough one.  The only 'man I associate with money is Meowth.