The GHZ Forum

Did you seriously snap the disc?

I'd've snapped an elderly woman's finger had
she reset the game. So, YES.

The damned thing developed a habit of reformatting my mermory card, so it was on thin ice already. And it's not like it has any aftermarket value besides.

And I thought I was the only one who here who ever broke a game disc in frustration.

*looks at unplayable Star Ocean Til the End of Time disc*

That never happened to me in Sonic 2, actually. Surprised it didn't.

I never got all the chaos emeralds in Sonic 2 (without the help of a Game Genie) until this year as well. It was incredibly satisfying and not nearly as hard as I thought it would have been.

I've never broken a game disk, but I have thrown my share of controllers. There's a small chip missing from one of my dual shock 3s thanks to playing Marvel vs. Capcom 3 online.

My sister once threw the Mario Kart 64 cartridge across the room during an argument I had with her, partially opening it. It still works, though.

I'm almost sure I got all seven emeralds in my first playthrough. The catch? That was in Knuckles in Sonic 2. Not really the same thing, I'm guessing.

Yeah, the requirements are a lot lower (typically 20 to 30 rings), plus your ring count isn't reduced to 0 in Knuckles in Sonic 2 after you leave the Special Stage.

My frothing addiction to Fire Emblem continues. To wit, let's talk about Awakening, the 3DS game:

Basically everything known about it so far here
CG Intro which you might have seen recently on Iwata's Nintendo Direct stream
Overview trailer from japanese Nintendo Channel with lots of gameplay
More gameplay snippets
Story trailer with CG scenes

Holy frick! If this does not get an NA release (New Mystery of the Emblem recently didn't for no apparent reason), NoA is either embezzling funds where they don't belong, or they're out of their minds. Both these games even let you turn off permanent death if you want to, for chrissakes. There will be a EU release at the least, region locked though it is.

I will also be sadface if this bundle doesn't turn up outside japan (it prolly won't), as it might just sell me on a 3DS on the spot.

I think Frieza asked where my enthusiasm went. Right about here, pretty much. Fire Emblem games are insanely crack addictive and excluding one or two of them, they're held to a level of polish that i'd call rare by Nintendo's usual standard. Let this be a gentle nudge to play that free copy of The Sacred Stones if they gave it to you and you haven't tried it yet, even though it's not one of the better ones (relatively speaking). Or go try one of the best two. Or if you're already aware how great all this is, rock on.

Or if you're going to suggest I go play Shining Force instead, :(

That Fire emblem 3DS looks really cool.

I've been excited about the new Fire Emblem for a while now, especially after two DS games that were basically remakes of 15+ year old Fire Emblem games. Don't know how I feel about turning off permanent deaths, though; it feels as weird to me as a Sonic game where he doesn't die from touching an enemy with no rings. It's a nice option for beginning players, I suppose.

I'll also be disappointed if this game doesn't come over to the U.S.. The Fire Emblem series is one of my favorite Nintendo franchises in the past few years, and I enjoyed the Game Boy Advance games and the Gamecube game quite a lot.

Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition - Focus attacks are a poor replacement for just parrying, especially while in the air (seriously, there's almost no point in jumping in this game at all). Also, the characters are butt-fugly and exchanging Ultra Combos every round is retarded. Other than that, it's fun.

Resident Evil 5 - Played this one local co-op with my best friend. My first impression was that the default control scheme made absolutely no sense, felt like a disabled Gears clone, took me a long while to somewhat get accustomed to it. The inventory system is awful and absurd: nine spaces, one of them permanently used up by your vest, can't use things without first allocating them to a free space, exchanging stuff on-the-fly when both inventories are full is a nightmare... inferior to 4 in pretty much every way, even in co-op.

El Shaddai - Nice looks and music, but can't hold a candle to almost every other serious game in the genre. Whatever, I just picked it up for the looks anyway. The motorcycle chapter is Vanquish-awesome, though (don't be fooled by YouTube, textures are super-sharp and the whole thing runs at 60 frames per second most of the time): http://youtu.be/3usLQ7k22jE?hd=1

Resident Evil 4 - Finally beaten this fucker in Professional, just to wash out 5's sour taste. Should've been available from the start.

Mass Effect 2 - Also beaten this one. Pretty average in the end, playing on a higher difficulty made me realize just how unresponsive the controls really are.

Dragon Quest VIII - Only reason why I'm starting over this one is because it supports widescreen, but while I'm at it I may as well do it right this time and upgrade only one stat per character 'til it's maxed out.

gr4yJ4Y wrote:I never got all the chaos emeralds in Sonic 2 (without the help of a Game Genie) until this year as well. It was incredibly satisfying and not nearly as hard as I thought it would have been.

There was always, ALWAYS this one segment of this one special stage I can't remember now, probably the fourth or fifth one, that I simply couldn't clear as a child, at least while playing with both Sonic and Tails. I finally cleared it some... ten years ago, maybe?

LittleBigPlanet 2 - There's a lot of fun to be had here, but I'm surprised I haven't seen too many levels that aren't just more LBP levels. There's nothing genre-breaking about any of the fan-made levels I've played although the ones that Mm highlight are usually quite good at what they do with the limited tools provided. I recently bought an HDTV (my first one, finally!) and was playing this at the time. I was disappointed that it wasn't as crisp and clear as the SD images made me believe it would be. I've learned that a lot of games have different levels of detail than I expected they would have when I first played them on SD. I had a lot of fun putting stickers all over my hub (more fun than I probably should have), but I haven't gotten up the nerve to try to make my own level yet - which was the main reason I picked the game up in the first place. It tends to happen with me that I'm interested in the level design aspects of a game and then never touch them... Maybe I'll try it soon...

Super Mario Galaxy 2 - I beat the story a while ago, but I've had the urge to play it as of late. I have about half of the green star missions done and plan to get them all and unlock that last level in World S. Most of them are pretty tricky and just enough of a challenge to not get me frustrated.

Super Mario World - I house sat a house that had a cat named Yoshi who appropriately enough kinda moved like Yoshi and had a short torso. There were no video game systems in the house and the urge to play one built up on me throughout the week, so I picked this up for the first time (heresy, I know) when I got home. It's harder than I expected! I went out and got a Classic Pro controller pretty much just for this game (the button mapping is impossible on a Game Cube controller). It's a unique sensation playing something so old and of such high quality for the first time at this age. I was going to end my session for a while when I learned that some levels have multiple exits! And so I played it for another hour trying to find them. The use of extra buttons beyond run and jump are nice, but are mostly unnecessary - a betrayal of the NES formula. It does evolve ideas from the 8-bit games in a way you'd wish NSMB/W would have. And in a bit of weird retroactive thinking that will get me ironically banned, I like how the world map reminds me of the Scott Pilgrim game.

gr4yJ4Y wrote:I went out and got a Classic Pro controller pretty much just for this game (the button mapping is impossible on a Game Cube controller).

I had this same issue, seems like a deliberate sabotage in order to sell more classic controllers. I was also surprised to find that you couldn't switch the controller "hotseat" style with a friend in 2-player mode--I had anticipated that with one controller plugged in we could just trade off with that, but apparently you can't in the Wii version. I'm not 100% sure that you ever could, but for some reason I have this memory and in a 2-player alternating game it doesn't really make any sense to require two controllers anyway. I wonder what the very last 2-player alternating game (that wasn't a turn-based strategy or board game adaptation) ever made was?

I recently played Asura's Wrath because a friend lended it to me. The game is mostly style over substance, the combat itself not having much depth. Basically, the game is divided between cutscenes, brawling, and QTEs: when you brawl, which is when you do attacks to hurt the enemy in a shallow fighting system where you have control over your character's movements (as opposed to the QTEs I'm about to mention which also make up a significant portion of fights), you fill up a "Burst" gauge, a gauge that when you fill up, you can press a button to let you "Burst", where your character engages the opponent in outrageous scripted QTEs, which may include doing Fist of the North Star rapid button pressing, pressing the sticks in certain directions to dodge attacks or do certain arm gestures (like pressing the sticks towards eachother to clasp an incoming blade between your hands). Filling up the gauge to burst is mandatory in all boss fights (every fight has one, whether it be a door or a diety), as even though you're fighting said boss during brawl mode, they're invincible until you fill up the Burst gauge to go into a very short Burst mode where Asura has to make contact with the boss in order to progress to the QTE (if you miss you lose a small portion of your Burst gauge and have to refill that portion again).

The game is largely styled as if you are watching an anime. The chapters, called episodes, even have eyecatches in the middle of episodes. An episode is about 10~15 minutes long and there are about 18 of them. I kind of want to say that Asura's Wrath is to anime like Heavy Rain is to movies, except replace the investigation gameplay with brawling gameplay and without the choose your own adventure stuff. It's like God of War+Heavy Rain+an outlandish anime (mostly Fist of the North Star to the extreme). Very polished for what it is.

I'm also playing Kid Icarus on the 3ds. The game is divided between flight and land battles, the structure being 5 minutes of Panzer Dragoon-ish flight and land battles where the gameplay feels like what a Mega Man game would be like in 3d gameplay on the 3DS (I've never played a 3d Mega Man such as Legends or some of the X titles so I can't compare to those). The land battles are actually a bit indepth, there's a lot of maneuvering and shooting (like Mega Man titles are) and enemy variety to keep things fresh. There's no jump button, but that's okay because land battles are very hectic anyway and adding a jump button wouldn't work for two reasons, because your right hand is busy aiming with the touch pen and jumping has been superseded by dodging (which you do by flicking the circle pad at the last moment), which maneuvers Pit out of harm's way if you do it correctly much like jumping maneuvers Mega Man out of harm's way if you, well, jump correctly. I guess a better comparison though is it's like dodging out of harm's way in 3d Zelda titles, except much snappier. There's a lot of variation in terms of enemies! There's one enemy that does a flashy dance that you're forced to look at until it's defeated! I also dig the fifth chapter, which utilizes a lot of illusions and tricks.

There are complaints that people's hands start to hurt after playing the game but I assume it's because they are playing the game for long stretches of time, but I play handheld games in certain doses so I haven't experienced any pain yet. According to the game, I'm 20% through the game so far, but I don't know if that percentage includes all the extras like creating all the weapons or playing at all difficulties.

I'm also playing Kid Icarus on the 3ds.

I picked that up, but I haven't started it yet. I didn't realize until I held the box in my hands that it comes with a plastic "holding tray" that you're supposed to use while playing. The fact that they had to make a whole new plastic attachment for the system to make the game playable can't possibly be good news.

There are some AR cards that are supposed to be out, packaged with cheap chocolate candy, but I haven't been able to find them anywhere around here.

That "holding tray" was made as a response to the pain people were feeling while playing it. I myself haven't felt any, but once I finish a chapter which is like 15ish minutes give or take 5 minutes I usually put it down and play another chapter another day, so I've been perfectly fine without that holding tray, though other people I know that have played it have experienced pain (I don't know how much they play in one sitting). Since at my workplace there are a couple people with a 3ds and some with the Icarus game we took pictures of eachother's AR cards that came with the game. There's this one dude who brought like 4 trading card packs of AR cards and I scanned all of his. I haven't done anything like AR battles or multiplayer or any other bells and whistles except some weapon fusion, just only the main scenario.

I am playing Demon's Souls.

I don't have much to say that wasn't said 3 years ago. The combat is challenging and deep. The "fuck you" moments are very frustrating. The online mode is interesting but feels a little restrained, like the developers were worried that it would interfere too much with the solo experience. It's really hard to team up, the messages are tiny and unhelpful, and the wandering apparitions are more of a distraction than anything else.

Watching other people die is funny, though.

Anyway, I want a version of this game with true multiplayer. Dying over and over is a lot more tolerable when it's a shared experience.

Has anyone tried Sine Mora? I liked the demo, but I'm debating whether or not to go for the full game. Any thoughts?

Nope.

I just finished Gemini Rue. I think it may be my favorite point'n'click. Not just because of the beautiful pixel art or the straightforward yet enthralling sci-fi plot.

I play adventure games for the story, not the puzzles. Of course, the puzzles are necessary to keep me engaged and separate the game from a movie. The problem is: when I can't solve a puzzle, the pacing of the story is totally ruined, to the point where I sometimes don't even care to go on. If I DO care, I might have to refer to a guide, or spend countless hours trying every fucking action-object combination. This is especially problematic in games with nonsensical solutions, like Monkey Island, and simply intolerable in games with a huge environment, like Monkey Island 2. In fact, you know what, fuck Monkey Island. The jokes weren't worth the hassle of playing those games.

Gemini Rue is designed to eliminate this frustration and move you along the story. But it's not easy, and it doesn't give you hints (which are both elements of bad design). Instead, the game simply tells you when something isn't relevant. Say you're supposed to break into an apartment building. You start poking around for clues. You're stumped, so you start clicking on things that make no sense, like a hobo. Your character will say, "I don't need to talk to him." You click on a telephone booth; "I don't need to use that." These things are irrelevant to the current task, and the game tells you so. It's as simple as that.

This means you're encouraged to seek things that ARE relevant and concentrate your efforts on them. No wandering around trying every verb-action combination for countless hours. At the same time, puzzles aren't easy, so you'll spend a good amount of time solving each. I got stuck several times, but I never spent more than a half hour solving a puzzle, and never had to use a guide.

The story is great, too. It's relatively simple in retrospect, but in the thick of it, I was captivated. Beautiful atmosphere and intrigue.

Anyone else playing the TERA beta?

As far as I can tell, it's trying to be World of Warcraft with an action-based combat system rather than WoW's current ability rotation system. That's definitely a point in it's favour, although it does mean you're very dependent on a lag-free connection to play. I wish it had been a bit more adventurous with the game's structure... so far it's all been exactly the same kind of linear questing experience that WoW uses. The combat is a lot deeper than WoW, but so far it hasn't done much with that depth since most enemies don't pose a threat. I'm told it's similar to PSO, so maybe some of you guys might want to give it a try, although I'm guessing that "PSO mixed with World of Warcraft" is not the game you've been waiting for.

Other points of interest:

- The cutscenes are endearingly camp and lacking in irony. Maybe this only feels like a plus after suffering through 7 years of WoW adding pop culture references and poop quests.
- There is an entire playable race of prepubescent girls. No boys, just girls. It's as creepy as it sounds.
- It's very pretty, but incredibly resource intensive. In fact, it's the first game to push my new graphics card to the limit. I hate it when MMOs do this. The core philosophy of an MMORPG ought to be inclusivity. I.E. don't limit your userbase to wealthy Windows users.
- I had to laugh when I saw the classes each had a difficulty rating out of 5. It's refreshingly honest of them. You'd never see a WoW developer acknowledging that some classes are easier to play than others.
- The game does a good job of teaching you that you have to approach large groups of enemies differently from single ones. I guess it's to prepare you for the group content. It's not as seamless as the original WoW was at teaching you these skills (most players didn't even notice they were acquiring them), but it's much better than the current iteration of WoW.

I beat Elite Beat Agents on its highest difficulty!!!!

I'm not sure what to say. I mean, I never let a game which left such a poor first impression drag me back at varying intervals over years.

I'm content with not having gotten a single "S" grade, all good endings, and a "Hero's Hero" rank, though, so I'll go on ahead and stick this'ne back on the ol' shelf and call it a day.

I popped in Shin Hikari Shinwa.

It's a good game for people with three hands. It's also fun for those of us with only two, though I'm under the impression it's impossible to play comfortably. Even with the stand, I have to hunch myself over it so my back starts hurting about halfway through the stage. I also find myself wishing the touch aim was a bit more sensitive - I keep finding the stylus at the end of the screen while the cursor is still in the middle, so I have to pick it up and reposition it frequently, which is not what I want to be doing in the heat of combat. Dashing is also difficult to perform reliably. Also, and I guess this is a flaw of my furniture and not the game, but I have to rest my arms on the edge of the desk when using the stand, and this desk has some painfully sharp edges.

I actually think this should've been a Wii game and wonder if it wasn't designed as such, then shuttled over to the 3DS when they needed some mascot software. The controls are kind of a daunting mess, which is a shame since there's a solid game beyond it.

Green Gibbon! wrote:I popped in Shin Hikari Shinwa.

See, this is why people look weirdly at you.

What? Oh, you mean Kid Icarus: Uprising.

Well, now that Nintendo actually supports patches and the like for 3DS games (as of the latest system update), maybe they'll get the bright idea to add a patch that allows for PROPER Circle Pad Pro support (using one stick for movement and the other one for aiming).

I don't think the righthand circle pad is a good solution for aiming - it'd be too inaccurate and even worse than the touchpad. This is one of those situations where you'd really need motion control, which is again why I think this was conceived as a Wii game.

Also, Kid Icarus is a stupid title I assume whipped up by someone in Nintendo of America's 1987 marketing department who probably has not played a videogame before or since and is not likely still working in the industry today. There's nobody even named "Icarus" in the game.

Oh, I mean, excuse me while I go jerk off fap to anime porn hentai.

Green Gibbon! wrote:Also, Kid Icarus is a stupid title I assume whipped up by someone in Nintendo of America's 1987 marketing department who probably has not played a videogame before or since and is not likely still working in the industry today. There's nobody even named "Icarus" in the game.

...Pit is a "kid" Icarus. He is an angel who, despite having wings, cannot fly.