Messages

3926

X / Re: Zero was way cooler before he became playable.

« on: April 10, 2009, 05:24:55 AM »

Shippuga is *a* dashing attack, it is not the X2 dashing attack.  Same goes for Gale Attack and the like from Zero series.

And how the crap do you get a similar animation/function with Shippuga?  The two are nothing alike.  Shippuga is a one-time full circle slash that brings your dash to a halt, and has no knockback on the enemy.  The X2 attack has the blade extended for the entirety of the dash, start to finish, and never does Zero spin around as he does with Shippuga.

3927

X / Re: Zero was way cooler before he became playable.

« on: April 10, 2009, 04:50:48 AM »

Point is, no matter how much I like or dislike Zero, he seemed so much greater before you could play as him. Or perhaps he sucked the whole time and we just never knew. We just assumed he was awesome. Maybe. 

We all just assumed.  Try using the Speed Burner on him in X2, and he's screwed.  You can also cancel out his buster shots with your own.

also, you do get to use the moves Zero does in X2.

Yeah, the ground-punch is a signature move of his (I still haven't forgiven Inti for it being absent in all but one of their games).  But there's a lot more to the X2 arsenal than that.  The ol' 3-shot saber wave combo was never really done properly in the player's hands until Model OX.  X3 Zero lacked the wave, and X3 X's (armored) buster was too damn slow/weak.  And NO GAME WHATSOEVER has put X2's dashing attack into the player's hands, either.  Believe me, I would remember if we were ever allowed to use the saber to ram an enemy into the wall.

3928

Gaming / Re: DSi release and first impressions

« on: April 10, 2009, 04:36:43 AM »

The reason the DSi appears, at launch, to be a wasted effort is that Nintendo launched the thing too damn quickly.  It has twice the CPU speed and four times the RAM of the original/Lite, and enhanced/exclusive cartridges are a possibility (think GB to GBC), but none of that's ready and so that only leaves the mediocre online game selection for the foreseeable future, unless the sound/picture toys appeal to you.

and it's not above the D-Pad where you might try to press up just a liiiiittle too far and BAM, gone.

For the life of me I still can't imagine how anyone does this.  My hands are gi-hugic (ring size of 14), and I've never had such an issue.  Neither has the future Mrs., who is tiny, but before meeting me hadn't touched a game since Mario Kart 64.

You can also close the DSi while earphones are plugged in, and actually listen to the music, which is nice. The quality IS pretty bad, but then again, it's also being based off of the speakers in the first place, and I doubt you can force theater-quality surround sound into something the size of two DS games stacked on top of each other and the length of 1 and a 1/4 of a credit card.

Well, that's why we get decent quality ear phones.

I find it funny that people are surprised that the music works while the system is closed, though.  Closing the DS is considered an input the same as the buttons and touch screen are, the system can do anything it wants in response to that.  See previous games that search for other players while closed.

And of course, anyone with a flash card knows that Moonshell has had DSi music's ass kicked long before it was even conceived.  If Nintendo insists on sticking with the AAC format, they could at least be friendly enough to point their customers to a decent converter.  It really blows that they stopped supporting MP3, considering that's pretty much expected of any other music app on the face of the Earth.

3929

Gaming / Re: Obligatory Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum thread

« on: April 10, 2009, 03:10:11 AM »

Damn straight.  Come on, I can't be the only one here who remembers being a tyke/young teen in 1st gen and facing off against Level 255 Snorlax and Hypnosis-equipped Mewtwos.

I can't see the big deal with the competitive metagame. There's too much time potential being put into it for something that will only wind up requiring you to repeat the process, all over some values in the RAM. If it must come to that, I'd rather just hack my team to perfection. But, since I couldn't care less, I'll stick with my balanced team of legendaries and pokemon I like.

I'm quite convinced that's what 99.99% of competitive players do, given that the metagame was born on Pokemon NetBattle and not in the actual games.  A great deal of them simply do not consider the practicality of actually implementing a given strategy.  Very few team-raters bother to consider alternatives to Hidden Power (which really ticks me off when you get into the ghetto BoltBeam Raikou).

Well, if the competitive meta-game bugs you (and hey, it even bugs me, for time investment, general hardassedness of the community, and utter disregard for Double Battles), that's why it's a good idea to request battles in non-Pokemon-centric communities, such as this one.  Ironic, perhaps, but it works.

EVs and IVs, incidentally, have always existed in the game since day 1.  HOWEVER, the IV range was doubled from 16 to 32 possible values during the GBA generation.  Between that and the Nature you can get screwed pretty easily, but at the same time it can make for some nifty combinations, too.

3930

Gaming / Re: Dear SEGA...Never Stop Making SONIC Games. Your Fan, [insert name]

« on: April 10, 2009, 03:01:10 AM »

Evidently those people were running dinosaur computers that cannot stream media: Super Sonic was featured in Sonic's announcement video.

3931

Gaming / Re: Rockman to be added to Brawl by hacking?!

« on: April 10, 2009, 02:56:08 AM »

Actually these days they have loaders to boot ISOs from specially formatted USB storage devices.  Nevertheless, it takes more than HBC to load a modded Wii game, disc or no.  No backup loader, be they for burned discs or USB, will run without first installing a hacked/custom IOS.

3932

X / Re: Zero was way cooler before he became playable.

« on: April 04, 2009, 04:50:11 PM »

Touche.

Alright, animation/scenario re-use.  He might beam-out without thumbs-upping in X4, but when he does that there is no pause or victory music either.

Same applies to X and punching the air.

3933

Gaming / Re: Dear SEGA...Never Stop Making SONIC Games. Your Fan, [insert name]

« on: April 04, 2009, 04:39:02 PM »

when's the last time we spindashed period? he can't even do it in the Storybook games or Unleashed. and i don't know if he had it in 06. instead, we get the Homing Attack.

Well, you could do both in the Adventures.  Whoring it for better speed was necessary for some of the emblems in the first, but it was pretty forgettable in the second (in fact it can screw up some of the stunts; "rolling around at the speed of sound" my butt).

Windy Valley post-tornado, Sonic Adventure 1.

...er, at least I did.

Good memory.  I just jump the thing.

3934

Gaming / Re: Obligatory Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum thread

« on: April 04, 2009, 04:29:47 PM »

the game's changed too much for me to really enjoy it now.

???

......that's about all the reaction I muster to that one.

3935

X / Re: Zero was way cooler before he became playable.

« on: April 04, 2009, 04:28:16 PM »

It's been a while, but I'm not sure that Zero sheathed his weapon in the X7 victory.  I think that started with X8.

Like I felt like booting up X5. >.>

Point taken.  But you can easily remember with the principle of sprite re-use.  Zero's only new sprites in X5 are for new moves (Z-Buster, laying/kneeling on the ground, wires, and Genmurei).  Everything that existed in X4 was recycled.

3936

X / Re: Zero was way cooler before he became playable.

« on: April 04, 2009, 04:34:35 AM »

As I said I found Zero to have a decent personality in X5, X6, and X8.  In XCM he seemed a little more withdrawn than usual, although I suppose getting blasted off a cliff by an ally will do that to you.  And it is the next century and all, so some change in personality isn't all that unusual.  In X7 he's dry throughout, but as I said, nobody got any favors personality-wise in X7.  X was a whiney [sonic slicer], and Axl a clingy nutcase.  Zero's personality shift in X7 does make some level of sense to me, though.  In remaining on the battlefield he is opposing X's recent pacifist stance.  That's bound to cause some tension between them.  Like oh-so-many things in the X-series, it works, it just didn't get the best level of focus.

He still did it in X5... X6 he stopped because they completely redesigned his sprites.

Here's another monkey wrench for that one: Zero does *NOT* give the thumbs-up in Xtreme2, while Iris is alive and kickin'.

Bad Zan, bad!  You know better than that!

So, yeah, the thumb-vs-no thumb in 2D games before and after Iris's death is actually even.  No thumb in Xtreme2, thumb in X4, thumb in X5, no thumb in X6.

3937

Gaming / Re: Console and Handheld Redesigns

« on: April 04, 2009, 04:18:16 AM »

Indeed, the Lite's buttons do blow.

Speaking of which, one issue of mine with the Lite that was *NOT* resolved with the DSi:  What the hell is with Nintendo and the period-sized Start and Select buttons?  On the original DS they were actually USEABLE.  Then they go back to the squishy dots entirely too close to each other (not to mention the bottom screen).  Ugh.

Honestly, I'm glad the DSi will be bigger; the DSLite cramps my hands, and the DSPhat was too big to lug around in one's pocket.

Quotes like these make me glad to be a tall guy.

3938

Gaming / Re: Dear SEGA...Never Stop Making SONIC Games. Your Fan, [insert name]

« on: April 04, 2009, 04:14:28 AM »

Disagree a bit with this statement.

See, what's still essentially the problem with modern Sonic games, is that they try to focus all on speed, and think that's the "return to Sonic's roots" that we've been waiting for.

And...that's wrong. Simply put.

Gotta agree there.  It's not just about running around, even if the whole dash mechanic in Sonic Rush was awesome.  Sonic is a platformer, period.  You're not ALWAYS running.  You never were.  And every game critic and their dog jumps on any moment in a recent Sonic game when you're not.  They don't help matters either.

And yes, "return to roots" tagline is worthless.  When's the last time we spin-dashed through a wall?

3939

News and Announcements / Re: Our prayers are finally answered: X9 is coming!!

« on: April 01, 2009, 03:16:15 AM »

Hey, I *WISH* someone would try real pranks for April Fools.  As mind-scarring as PMM's Nana/Wily switcheroo was back in the day, it's at least funny to look back.

GA is old....

Your point is what?  SNES-style X9 was old about four seconds after MM9 was confirmed.

3940

Gaming / Re: Dear SEGA...Never Stop Making SONIC Games. Your Fan, [insert name]

« on: April 01, 2009, 02:26:03 AM »

A good point (damn the economy for my not having Galaxy), but you could just as easily take segments of Sonic games to say the same.  Especially the first Adventure.  I meant the game as a whole.

3941

X / Re: What Would Make X3 a Truly Great Game

« on: April 01, 2009, 02:20:42 AM »

In all honesty 4-6 kinda blur together in my head.  Still, Classic sticking to the NES keeps a sort of boundary between the two series that 7 broke down.

3942

News and Announcements / Re: Our prayers are finally answered: X9 is coming!!

« on: April 01, 2009, 02:15:46 AM »

Why do you people persist in doing this stupid crap every year?  Just curious.  I've never been much of a practical joke person and I simply don't see the appeal of it.

The thing is, I laugh very, very easily (ie: Gotham's above post), and I don't get it.  A hoax is not a joke.  A joke has a punch-line, and/or something reasonably unexpected.  But RPM seems to get more and more unoriginal as the years go by.

They could have at LEAST had a screenshot thumbnail link to Gutsman's ass or something.  Same nonexistent originality with only a slight improvement on effort could have gone a long way.

3943

X / Re: What Would Make X3 a Truly Great Game

« on: April 01, 2009, 02:07:04 AM »

It's just a testament to how "evolved" the series was becoming, though, that even as of their 2nd entry they already were botching up on that level.  The simplistic designs, X1 excepted, are generally Classic-series material.  It's part of what helps differentiate the two.

Who knows, that may have something to do with why they started pulling out all the stops in X2.  Remember, X2/MM7 was the first time two MegaMan series coexisted.

And I don't know what the hell you're talking about with Legends.  First of all, Trigger got redesigned between the two entries, and secondly there isn't a whole lot "blocky" about his design, certainly not when you compare L1 art to L1 visuals.  Barring the helmet, which he doesn't start with, his design is unusually rounded.  There aren't a whole lot of edges on him, but there is a fair share of fine detail.

3944

X / Re: Zero was way cooler before he became playable.

« on: April 01, 2009, 02:01:34 AM »

So far as gameplay handling, I don't think Zero has sunken too low, well, ever.  His being only half-accessible in X3 notwithstanding (still beats the hell out of X's buster anyway), he's been pretty solid.  Most games that blew in any particular department tended to make up for it in others (ie: X5 lacks originality, but packs the most powerful Giga).

although X6's was quite powerful.

......*puts away his magic fish*

Close one, Flame.  Close one.

X6 kind of ruined Zero's backstory a bit for me.

Never mind.

*smacks Flame with his magical talking fish*

Seriously, High Max beaten as Zero was epic.

then in X7 made him totally emotionless. X8 following suite.

X7 did no favors to anyone character-wise.  X8 Zero was *FAR* from emotionless, you need to play as Zero more.  He does get shafted in the "common" cutscenes, that much is true.

3945

X / Re: What Would Make X3 a Truly Great Game

« on: April 01, 2009, 01:49:35 AM »

I was beginning to wonder if I was the only one who noticed...

Lacking access to the internet at the time of X2, I didn't honestly know what Zero's redesigned armor was supposed to look like.  X3 was the obvious indicator to me that the designs were too complex for the sprites.  Main reason I want to smack these "ZOMG MAKE SNES X9" people in the face.

3946

DASH / Re: The legends games

« on: April 01, 2009, 01:45:55 AM »

[tornado fang] the Cellphone game.

Damn lucky Japanese...   

Well, assuming we're talking about only the "big three", then yes, I've played the hell out of every one.  Own 'em, love 'em, because they're just that damn extraordinarily rocking.  Any who deprive themselves of Legends are nuts.

3947

Gaming / Re: Dear SEGA...Never Stop Making SONIC Games. Your Fan, [insert name]

« on: April 01, 2009, 01:40:14 AM »

Music alone justifies the Sonic games, this is true.

That being said, something that neither Sonic nor Mario ever did was to make a 3D rendition of the 2D gameplay.  Mario went the open-ended route, Sonic went the extra-mechanics route.  Both saw their fair share of humiliation (I don't think highly of Mario Sunshine).  But seriously, maybe Sonic doesn't need to be innovative?  Maybe, just maybe, the old formula applied to the 3D plane, nothing more and nothing less, wouldn't be a bad idea.  You know, actual platforming, spin-dashing through walls, running across water, zone-specific stunts, extra character abilities that were fun/useful without being mandatory, SUPER SONIC IN STAGES, that kind of stuff.

3948

Gaming / Re: Sonic and the Black Knight

« on: April 01, 2009, 01:34:24 AM »

Well, that's actually twice.

Nevertheless, good points.  And the contradictory body conditions are something I've been over so many times that I just don't bother anymore, but they're still just as true.

3949

News and Announcements / Re: Our prayers are finally answered: X9 is coming!!

« on: April 01, 2009, 01:24:36 AM »

You just can't go "oh man, that was awesome! Great job all parties, even if I wasn't fooled!"

3950

Gaming / Re: Console and Handheld Redesigns

« on: March 29, 2009, 09:00:03 PM »

Alot of it because the DS Lite shouldn't fixed everything wrong with the DS, the biggest being the WPA connection issues, and it didn't. It just gave it a nice new screen and tinier shell for nearly the same cost. Good going, Nintendo.

Well, as I said above I don't think highly of the Lite either.  But regarding WPA, programming architecture is partly to blame for that.  The DS/Lite firmware has no Wi-Fi interface, it is instead programmed into each individual game.  For this reason, it is impossible for any hardware to connect with WPA while playing an older DS game.

I read a rant not too long ago chewing Nintendo out for that mentality, particularly as it applies to the Wii, as it results in a lack of future-proofing and the pretty much complete impossibility of doing anything major with the firmware updates.