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sarsamis .
Joined: 03 Jan 2008 Posts: 49
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Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:27 pm Post subject: Wanna talk about that new Advanced Wars game? |
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I hate the story, I hate the new style, I'm indifferent towards the music, I miss the old CO's, I miss getting money and unlocking things because it gave me incentive to play the war room a lot, I miss the pseudo 3D perspective, and I miss the pleasing animations and themes that accompanied stuff like days passing and victories and all that...
BUT I do like some of the new units, I appreciate the fact that the CO abilities aren't as powerful anymore (at least that's my impression of it thus far), and I like the ability to make those temp airports.
That's all I really have to say atm. Truth be told that I've only played for around an hour and half of that time was on a single war room mission. I just felt like making a thread to see what you all had to say. Perhaps even get some froth going to play it extensively if your opinions on it are mostly positive. |
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Harveyjames the meteor kid
Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636
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Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 5:24 am Post subject: |
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The style is pretty important to Advance wars. Black Hole rising was so perfect, and Dual Strike only looked slightly different but it was enough for me to not want to play it.
This new one looks super-generic! What! |
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Intentionally Wrong .
Joined: 09 Sep 2005 Posts: 248 Location: [Subject Hometown Here]
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Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 5:38 am Post subject: |
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I hear Dual Strike balances the COs a lot. I think I approve of that, but since it's the only one I've played I don't really have a basis for comparison. |
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sarsamis .
Joined: 03 Jan 2008 Posts: 49
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Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 11:24 am Post subject: |
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I hate it when Nintendo tries to act like they're hard core. |
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kirkjerk .
Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 1227
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Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 12:59 pm Post subject: |
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I had to give up Dual Strike. There was this one gimmicky level where you had to face a TON of almost dead enemy, but there were recharging stations. I just couldn't figured out if I hadn't leveled up enough, or just was insufficiently clever. _________________ =/ \(<D)_/
==/\/ >_ kirkjerk.com |
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fish .
Joined: 13 Jun 2007 Posts: 113 Location: montreal
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Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:07 am Post subject: |
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fuck that new style.
FUCK IT. _________________ you cant spell selfish without fish |
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sarsamis .
Joined: 03 Jan 2008 Posts: 49
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Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:27 am Post subject: |
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kirkjerk wrote: | I had to give up Dual Strike. There was this one gimmicky level where you had to face a TON of almost dead enemy, but there were recharging stations. I just couldn't figured out if I hadn't leveled up enough, or just was insufficiently clever. |
I have very vague memories of that stage, but I forgot how I cleared it... I forget, can you replay campaign missions in that game? I'd be happy to go back to it to jog my memory for ya. |
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dmauro .
Joined: 20 Jul 2006 Posts: 303 Location: Brooklyn
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Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:37 am Post subject: |
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I'm really enjoying this one. They abandoned the mode7 fake 3D bullshit (and replaced it with the handy zoom out), added new units (the dusters are a nice alternate to the expensive fighter jet, and the anti-tank units are really neat), changed some mechanics for the better: you don't move your unit until after you decide what you want to do (wait, fire, etc), which saves a lot of fuel, and during fog of war forests and cities stay illuminated during any turn in which a piece even passed by them (you no longer have to park next to them) and if an infantry unit passed over a mountain you get the visibility bonus for that as well for the rest of your turn.
I'm not very far, so I haven't even seen how the COs affect the game, but I never really liked that aspect (and I very much disliked the double CO abilities in DS), so I'm interested in what I read about putting your CO in a unit for an AoE bonus.
This is the game that I was hoping for when I got Dual Strike instead. I would just as soon just keep playing AW2 over and over, but the gba screen is a lot smaller :/ |
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Lackey .
Joined: 11 Jul 2005 Posts: 1107 Location: Canada
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Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 11:37 am Post subject: |
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Does anyone else find it weird that these games are ostensibly all about warfare but done in this cutesy-japanese-gleeful-funtimes-children-shooting-eachother aesthetic? I hope the commanders say things like "Yay, now lets put the stragglers to the bayonet!" just for extra dissonance. _________________ | Little bird fighting against a bat sect game | |
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Slonie .
Joined: 28 Nov 2006 Posts: 141
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Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 2:07 pm Post subject: |
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Lackey wrote: | Does anyone else find it weird that these games are ostensibly all about warfare but done in this cutesy-japanese-gleeful-funtimes-children-shooting-eachother aesthetic? I hope the commanders say things like "Yay, now lets put the stragglers to the bayonet!" just for extra dissonance. |
Days of Ruin kind of gets away from that. Kind of.
I'm up to mission 15 or 16...The one right after the (spoiler-free description) traveling-east-to-west-on-bridges-map...I guess the real game starts now! _________________ -Slonie
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Harveyjames the meteor kid
Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636
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Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 4:32 pm Post subject: |
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Lackey wrote: | Does anyone else find it weird that these games are ostensibly all about warfare but done in this cutesy-japanese-gleeful-funtimes-children-shooting-eachother aesthetic? I hope the commanders say things like "Yay, now lets put the stragglers to the bayonet!" just for extra dissonance. |
That's the main thing I love about it. I love how you've just performed a hostile takeover of an entire country and probably thrown countless cities of people into a total state of disarray and Andy's comment is 'alright! let's have a barbecue!' You're not really striking the proper tone here, dude. Also how did these kids get to lead armies in the first place?
'Aw man... I should have tried harder...'
'Never mind, Andy! Just believe in yourself and you'll come through!'
'YEAH!! Next time I'm gonna win!!'
That's the spirit you lot should have had after that whole Vietnam debacle. If only you'd had Advance Wars back then, things might have been different.
I like that it's 'Nintendo goes to war'. That they've gone and made it all dark and serious (possibly as a result of focus grouping, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of kids preferred the change) is a shame but probably inevitable. |
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Harveyjames the meteor kid
Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636
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Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 4:35 pm Post subject: |
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ALSO you have to love the contrast between Japan's actual conduct in real world wars and this emasculated simulation of war with awesome child commanding officers.
'ALRIGHT! Let's put the prisoners into camps, cut off their arms and legs and then subject them to depraved and twisted experiments! Then rape all the women, cut their stomachs open and pull the babies from their screaming bodies! After that we'll have ice cream!!' |
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Redeye .
Joined: 02 Oct 2006 Posts: 986 Location: filth
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Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 5:03 pm Post subject: |
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Harveyjames wrote: | ALSO you have to love the contrast between Japan's actual conduct in real world wars and this emasculated simulation of war with awesome child commanding officers.
'ALRIGHT! Let's put the prisoners into camps, cut off their arms and legs and then subject them to depraved and twisted experiments! Then rape all the women, cut their stomachs open and pull the babies from their screaming bodies! After that we'll have ice cream!!' |
Don't forget the beheading contests!
_________________ I felt sheer anarchic joy when I ran over my first pedestrian. |
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Harveyjames the meteor kid
Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636
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Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 6:30 pm Post subject: |
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That could be a between-levels minigame! You could use the DS stylus to hack and slash your way through 100 prisoners of war while your rival attempts to do the same! |
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Redeye .
Joined: 02 Oct 2006 Posts: 986 Location: filth
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Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 7:58 pm Post subject: |
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Harveyjames wrote: | That could be a between-levels minigame! You could use the DS stylus to hack and slash your way through 100 prisoners of war while your rival attempts to do the same! |
The wii controller would be even better.
Throw in a little waterboarding.
The torture info could open up hidden areas and bonus missions.
_________________ I felt sheer anarchic joy when I ran over my first pedestrian. |
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Harveyjames the meteor kid
Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636
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Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:39 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, or you unlock swell new outfits for Andy, Sami and Nell. |
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Hospital Zone .
Joined: 30 Jan 2008 Posts: 19 Location: The Canadas: Kelowna
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Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:45 pm Post subject: |
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Quote: | I hate it when Nintendo tries to act like they're hard core. |
Hey, I'm new, so forgive if I just jump in. I've decided to stop being a voyeur and participate, cause I like reading around on this site.
I've just started playing Days of Ruin, and have been enjoying it so far, for what it is. It's certainly trying really hard to be Extreme and Gritty. I'm disappointed by the new style and miss the kids-in-a-sandbox aesthetic that the older games had really milked.
I thought it was interesting how the real nature of war is almost left out of these games, like what Harvey is joking about. It's bizarre when you think about it: how you can blast a group of infantry with a big fuck-off tank and they just spin away comically, then retreat. They still keep the flipping infantry in, but are pushing the hardened-soldier, post-apocalyptic style on it's faithful fans. I used to laugh at Advance War's stupid charms. Now I feel like I'm being laughed at. I guess they should have tried harder, gone less PC, or not gone there at all. If they were going to change the style by what I see as essentially aiming it at the older gamers who found their games' challenge appealing, they should maybe have tried to balance out this aesthetic a little better. Then again, the results of going all the way could have been pretty wretched. I like these games, but their writers are really hard to tolerate. So I've been skipping all the cutscenes. At least they left that feature in.
"Nooo!"
vs.
"Yes! Unit hit!"
Those voices still echo like a child who has just had their favourite GI Joe smashed by a new kid who plays way to violently with hard plastic toys. _________________ he was the first to realize there was no future in farming |
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Hospital Zone .
Joined: 30 Jan 2008 Posts: 19 Location: The Canadas: Kelowna
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Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:55 pm Post subject: |
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To the game's credit, the battles and tactics were polished out, and found a balance that the last two titles lacked. CO powers are a less devastating, but still help for a push while in a crunch. Also, there's a slight risk involved in raising power, which makes raising power harder to do. The new units are nice additions, I agree. I just discovered sea-planes, which are built by Carriers. They're pretty bad-ass, but I can't remember if they are new to the series or not. Wi-fi battles could be pretty alright with this system. It's a little more leveled overall, so I think the game designers were going the right way there. At least, I haven't found any glaring overpowered tactics yet. _________________ he was the first to realize there was no future in farming |
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Harveyjames the meteor kid
Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636
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Posted: Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:58 pm Post subject: |
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YEAH
You know, it was mostly kids who were saying 'BOO HOO Wind Waker looks like a kid's game, and I'm nearly NINE YEARS OLD!!' so I wouldn't be surprised if the 'darker' look is actually designed to appeal to kids, or was arrived at as a result of focus grouping the game with kids. I think most adults would prefer the previous style. It's just cooler. It was actually a pretty unique drawing style, I can't think of any manga or anime that looked like that. |
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Hospital Zone .
Joined: 30 Jan 2008 Posts: 19 Location: The Canadas: Kelowna
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Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 12:06 am Post subject: |
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Yeah, I definitely liked the GBA versions best for their art styles. I can agree that they probably went this way to look bad-ass for kids, rather than adults. When I think of the standard cartoon formula we see being made these days, (looking "tough", with a big helping of ADD) I guess this isn't really a surprise. And while I loved the old games, most people I showed them to couldn't get past the graphics and find what I saw as their enjoyable aspects. Their excuses were always, "too kiddy, this looks like crap." It might be kiddy, but it was unique, and I liked it for that reason, even if it did make war hauntingly happy.
But this, this makes me wish for the good old days of when we had multinational barbecues. _________________ he was the first to realize there was no future in farming |
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Harveyjames the meteor kid
Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636
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Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 4:43 am Post subject: |
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People who dismiss games for being 'kiddy' are scared people will think they are children
Real men (HELLO) have no such qualms |
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Hospital Zone .
Joined: 30 Jan 2008 Posts: 19 Location: The Canadas: Kelowna
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Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 3:40 pm Post subject: |
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Heck yeah, I can deal with 'for kids' aesthetics if something else is going on underneath.
I got a little further into the game, and found that they were trying to go for a story that was closer to the realism of war. But everyone usually turns out (surprise!) to be okay, villains seem intrinsically and naively bad, and motivations of the heroes keep coming back to regular advance wars optimism, which undercuts how the same characters want to "put their enemies down like the dogs they are."
"That's how war is Will, you're just a kid and don't understand... Now this is what you do with a Bomber."
Every other character looks ready for a big rave. No one is dressed for either a war (except maybe Brenner) or an Advance Wars game. A stylistic mess, that's what I feel like I'm playing through. _________________ he was the first to realize there was no future in farming |
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digi .
Joined: 21 Oct 2006 Posts: 49 Location: the Canadas, k-town, The Mission
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Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 5:50 pm Post subject: |
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A suprisingly pleasant exception to that trend is [I think] Phantom Hourglass. That game got me into it with just enough of the super-deformed chibi stuff balanced against monsters that look appoachably intimidating, complete with large puffs of purple smoke around the really badass baddies!
Apart from that, though, yeah. I wonder if Nintendo has Squenix specifically in mind while they draft up this stuff. Trying to directly compete with the style of their DS offerings, like the FF remakess or that Subarashiki Kono Sekai thing [which is most definitely straddling the kids/teenagers/kids who desperately want to be teenagers line]. _________________ * Me Profile * Me Blog * Me Photos * |
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Harveyjames the meteor kid
Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636
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Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 6:06 pm Post subject: |
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Quote: | A suprisingly pleasant exception to that trend is [I think] Phantom Hourglass. That game got me into it with just enough of the super-deformed chibi stuff balanced against monsters that look appoachably intimidating, complete with large puffs of purple smoke around the really badass baddies! |
Oh yeah, the monstrous stuff has to look monstrous, they can't all be Dragon Quest Slimes. Wind Waker has some crazy gross shit in it but it's still all inkeeping with the style of the game. Man even Snow White and the Seven Dwarves has a scene where a dude is about to kill Snow White with a knife. What I'm saying is, just because it's cartoony doesn't mean it has to be Disneyland. |
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Shapermc Hot Sake!
Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279
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Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:56 pm Post subject: |
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Harveyjames wrote: | You know, it was mostly kids who were saying 'BOO HOO Wind Waker looks like a kid's game, and I'm nearly NINE YEARS OLD!!' so I wouldn't be surprised if the 'darker' look is actually designed to appeal to kids, or was arrived at as a result of focus grouping the game with kids. I think most adults would prefer the previous style. It's just cooler. |
Oh man, what does this mean for the next Pokemon then? I would love to see Post-Apocalypse Hoenn.
"Gotta Catch'm All: This time for REAL!" _________________ “The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932
"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!" |
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digi .
Joined: 21 Oct 2006 Posts: 49 Location: the Canadas, k-town, The Mission
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Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:37 pm Post subject: |
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I'd love to see a Kingdom Hearts styled Ghibli/Pokemon crossover.
/not _________________ * Me Profile * Me Blog * Me Photos * |
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Harveyjames the meteor kid
Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636
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Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 7:35 am Post subject: |
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Shapermc wrote: | Harveyjames wrote: | You know, it was mostly kids who were saying 'BOO HOO Wind Waker looks like a kid's game, and I'm nearly NINE YEARS OLD!!' so I wouldn't be surprised if the 'darker' look is actually designed to appeal to kids, or was arrived at as a result of focus grouping the game with kids. I think most adults would prefer the previous style. It's just cooler. |
Oh man, what does this mean for the next Pokemon then? I would love to see Post-Apocalypse Hoenn.
"Gotta Catch'm All: This time for REAL!" |
I suppose that typical manga style which Pokemon has manages to appeal to kids without them feeling like they're being condescended to, in a way which I guess Advance Wars 1+2 and Wind Waker might not? Hmm, I'd like to attend one of these focus groups one day. |
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