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ryan
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

aderack wrote:
It's a little weird that the episodes don't just run into each other. I kept expecting episode 2 to start once I finished episode 1. Instead, I had to go back to the menu and start a new game.

Which is not a unique experience! I'm just saying: huh.


Yeah, and a by-product of the shareware system is not only the disjointedness of the entire package but the roller coaster difficulty: as soon as an episode starts to get difficult it ends and the game goes back to being easy. Then you switch to Doom II where there is a continual escalation until you get to a last level that's just a giant demon in the front and a thousand in the back.
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 11:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

dessgeega wrote:
the hardware in chibi robo's house looks like the famicom.

You actually put famicom carts in there in order to expand your ability to modify the park's terrain!

I like the game a lot, too. It's ridiculously charming.
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aderack
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 1:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

dessgeega wrote:
romero's levels are all about things jumping out and yelling BOOGA BLOO.

There's a bit more to it than that. They're really... honed, and paced. And they have a real sense of setpiece iconography, for lack of a better term. They just feel like neat places. And they incorporate a bunch of neat ideas in their own right. Like that place where you see the blue orb in the window, and as you walk up past it you hear a door close. Eventually you realize if you run into an area off to the side really quickly, you can just scoot into a secret passage before it seals itself.

Elaborating on the "honed" comment: he incorporated a lot of the Miyamoto "if you can see it, you can get there" philosophy. There's stuff everywhere to find, to climb on. It's all very elaborate. Usually you can just shove through a level and beat it fine, yet if you take some time and look around, there's a way to do pretty much anything. Go outside the base! Raise all of the walls! Climb up to where the Imp was! Find a passage to that tiny nook in the wall!

It just feels like someone really put a lot of work into making each level memorable in its own way. Whereas Peterson's, as you say, are more about survival. They're areas that you push through and beat, instead of take apart and appreciate.
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Six
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 2:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's probably just my selective memory at work here, but it feels like many PC games from around that period had that sort of layered approach to level design. That is, you could power through them, but if you lingered and poked at the levels you would find that a lot of stuff yielded. Granted, it mostly wasn't as elaborate or involved as what you saw in Doom, but it was memorable in its own way.

I guess I'm thinking of Apogee games from around then?
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 7:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

i think the problem with chibi robo is there's too much text. every time you plug yourself in at the chibi house, your (bumbling) sidekick goes through the long process of asking you if you want to convert your whatsits to thingies, tallying up how the total amount of flowers in your garden has changed on the big board, then going ahead and telling you just for good measure, letting you know how many more flowers you need before you can buy the next item, and asking if you want to save. you have to hear this whole spiel a lot, especially towards the beginning of the game, because you need to plug yourself in periodically or you will run down. this game has gorgeous design and animation; it should rely on them more to get information across.

the other problem is it's apparently a walmart exclusive. i stole my copy from the internet.
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aderack
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 10:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Six wrote:
I guess I'm thinking of Apogee games from around then?

Apogee and Epic, yeah. Keen was a lot like this, and, well. Look at the makers.

I really like this kind of level design, I gotta say.

One Must Fall for XBLA, maybe? Epic Pinball?
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 10, 2007 12:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just got a copy of Earthbound in the mail. I've never been able to make myself play it past the first couple towns or so, but with the SNES + TV + Couch + Wisdom of my years, it's already far more enjoyable than I've ever found it before.

The sound is amazing!

Hopefully by the time I finish this the VC will have that Mother translation up, and by the time I finish that Mother 3 will be fully patched or otherwise released.
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 3:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

so i've played portal. it's essentially an abstract puzzle game with valve's incredible sense of polish and attention to detail applied to it, though i think it's telling that the game's second half, where it loses the these are obviously puzzles, go solve them premise of the beginning, is by far the best part. yes, the script is great, and the ending made me smile pretty hard.

the protagonist has weird sci-fi leg braces, which had the effect of making me try to examine myself, which engaged me with exploiting the more interesting properties of portals and portal placement.

also, lots of team fortress 2 with team tgq. i like that there are so many ways to play the game, and to play it well - in the few other online shoot man games i've played, your success seems dependent on a small set of skills (like headshots), which most other players will invariably be more skilled in. so far i seem to prefer the support classes - medic, sniper and spy. it is a great thing to play a spy well.

though i stopped playing when we got into such an unmatched fight that it just ceased being enjoyable.
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 1:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Guys we should have a thread where we alert people to TF2 action because I would like to be in on that.
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 1:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Is TF2 hardware dependent? i.e. can the PS3 version play online alongside someone on the PC or 360 version?
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Shapermc
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 3:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

silentmatt wrote:
Is TF2 hardware dependent? i.e. can the PS3 version play online alongside someone on the PC or 360 version?

No word on PS3/360, but the PC is alone on this. I doubt that the PS3/360 will talk either because the ps3 version is completely outsourced.
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tollmaster was right. Phantom Brave is solid gold, I tell you. Possibly one of the best games I've played in ages. I like how it integrates story elements into the game.
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2007 11:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

World in Conflict was fun, but it was also really short. Weee for bot support!

Dirt on the PS3 is pretty fun as well. The controller has come real close to meeting the floor during a few last minute spin-out losses though.
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dessgeega
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 5:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

started playing half-life 2 episode 1. you know: yes, you can argue that a scene where you just stand around and listen to people talk to you or each other is essentially a cutscene, but these are a step above static cutscenes in that they do actually take advantage of the capabilities medium by allowing that measure of interaction. even that rollercoaster ride at the beginning, even though you have no control over the ride itself, gains so much just from the fact that you can look around while it's happening. the same goes even for that bathysphere dive at the beginning of bioshock, despite the fact that there's nowhere to look.

i think there is no longer any reason for a static cutscene to exist in a videogame. even hideo kojima - who wishes he made actual movies - seems to get this.

the other thing episode 1 reminded me is how frustrating it is for me to actually play half-life 2. puzzles whose solutions rely on finnicky physics engines (and the physics of half-life 2, and of moving objects with the gravity gun in particular, are in fact very finnicky no matter what you think) are something i could do with less of. i quit during a fight with some invincible homing missile tank. i'll try again tomorrow.
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 7:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

finnicky? really?

maybe that's a joystick thing cause with a mouse it's point-and-rock.
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aerisdead
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 8:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

No way man.
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 8:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

dessgeega wrote:
i think there is no longer any reason for a static cutscene to exist in a videogame. even hideo kojima - who wishes he made actual movies - seems to get this.


What about scenes where your character is not present? The start of deus ex, for example? The end of most zelda games?
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 11:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was going to say there's no reason to have static load screens in games anymore...
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 12:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Shapermc wrote:
I was going to say there's no reason to have static load screens in games anymore...


Wouldn't that be nice?

I loathe the load screen in Motorstorm. Not only are the jokes painfully unfunny, but the little loading icon moves so slow and erratically that it feels like the game is broken. If a game is going to have a loading screen, the least they can do is make sure that the player knows something is happening. The best way to do this is to make the loading icon move as fluently as possible.
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 12, 2007 3:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, in general yes, I prefer when a game hides loading screens with doors opening or mini-cutscenes. I was more referring to: even though HL2 gets the cutscene and many other things so incredibly right, it still has this pace breaking static load screen. Occasionally mid-action even!

I don't know if I just forgot about the loading over time, or if it's worse on the 360, but there's a lot of loading. I mean, if games like GTAIII that's nearly 10 years old now can completely remove loading screens, you'd thing something brand new could at least think of some way to mask loading.

I mean, it doesn't ruin the game, I'm just pointing out that it's not infallible.
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 14, 2007 12:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Marathon: Resurrection. It's Marathon, for Unreal Tournament, with everything that is to be expected from a well done fan tribute mod. And no crosshairs.
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 14, 2007 3:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote



last night i came up with the exact same acrostic for "elf" as the good doctor. that being "everyone loves fairies".
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PostPosted: Sun Oct 14, 2007 4:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

aderack wrote:
dessgeega wrote:
romero's levels are all about things jumping out and yelling BOOGA BLOO.

There's a bit more to it than that. They're really... honed, and paced. And they have a real sense of setpiece iconography, for lack of a better term. They just feel like neat places. And they incorporate a bunch of neat ideas in their own right. Like that place where you see the blue orb in the window, and as you walk up past it you hear a door close. Eventually you realize if you run into an area off to the side really quickly, you can just scoot into a secret passage before it seals itself.

Elaborating on the "honed" comment: he incorporated a lot of the Miyamoto "if you can see it, you can get there" philosophy. There's stuff everywhere to find, to climb on. It's all very elaborate. Usually you can just shove through a level and beat it fine, yet if you take some time and look around, there's a way to do pretty much anything. Go outside the base! Raise all of the walls! Climb up to where the Imp was! Find a passage to that tiny nook in the wall!

It just feels like someone really put a lot of work into making each level memorable in its own way. Whereas Peterson's, as you say, are more about survival. They're areas that you push through and beat, instead of take apart and appreciate.


I agree with this assessment of John Romero's Doom levels.

You know, no-one's ever properly played Daikatana to the end without it crashing on them. Supposedly there was going to be some really cool shit in there, like a tenement block where every single thing was destructable (?!) and every level would introduce a new monster, for 60 levels. Crazy!

Every time I tried to play it, I thought it had an engrossing and unique atmosphere and style... I think Romero makes Popcap Gin Rummy simulations now.
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 11:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is just a quick heads up, I didn't know where else to post this, but today I found a boxed copy of Darwinia for four bucks brand new at a local Big Lots. It might be worth checking out for people who would want to play it. Sorry and thank you.
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 12:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Darwinia is a pretty sweet game.
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 1:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

after playing a bunch of halo, followed by a bunch of HL2, i realize that i can no longer stand the traditional FPS health system that HL2 uses.

it sucks.

that fect that its there creates this economy for med kits and shiled chargers and all that, which is always nice to have, as it gives yet another thing for the player to look for. it creates a very very valuable resource to hunt down. but that fact that you cant store these resources for later often create situations where my health is maxed out and i find a rebel stash full of med kits, which will end up being wasted. in real life like in games, i dont liek to waste things.

or how often do i get through a fight fairly unharmed only to fuck up ONE explosive batrrel throw and find myself with a third of my health.

while sucessfully surviving an intense encouter could be considered a reward in it self, having to worry about surviving the even the smallest fight because you're stuck at 9pts and there are no med kits anywhere near and you're thinking about all those medkits in the stash earlier that you had to just leave there and you know that the enxt headcrab that touches you will kill you, even tho you managed to survive 3 fucking hunters at the same time....

what im getting at is: all FPSes should adopt a halo-style health system.
the fight is over, you have survived, your shileds replenish, on to the next fight.
period.

i dont care if it dosent make sense story wise. it didnt make sense in call of duty but it worked fine. its just plain better design. its more elegant, more streamlined and less frustrating. and it saves you the trouble of having silly little medkits littering the ground everywhere. to hell with in-game economy.
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 4:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

So you want easier games? Is that what you're saying?
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 5:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Uh, I don't think that's what he's saying.

Unless you think Halo is easier than HL2.

I agree with Mr. Fish in that I find the "must use now" med pack mechanic to be largely infuriating. If they're going to be used, I usually prefer it to be handled like Deus Ex or Bioshock where it's something I can pick up and tote around.


Last edited by Scratchmonkey on Tue Oct 16, 2007 5:32 pm; edited 2 times in total
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 5:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

i want less frustrating games.
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 6:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

as well as fewer frustrating games.


the quality and quantity of frustration in the media can be overwhelming at times.
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 7:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Speaking of frustration, I'm thinking of trading in Skate tomorrow.

I dug the demo... but being fully immersed in the full version of the game? It is hellish.

I don't care about the 30 different companies (ranging from Adidas to god-knows-what) who want to sponsor my character. I don't care about what clothes to pick out (also separated by manufacturer), what trucks to put on my board or that my characters face is on the cover of Thraser magazine. I don't even care to watch the intro movies for every goddamn NPC you meet on the street. I just wanted to skate, do some interesting challenges and have a relaxed time.

But the game features so much bullshit, it is driving me INSANE.

You have to do all these mini-challenges which are so badly instructed (the 'checklist' that appears on your screen telling you what to do is often either in the wrong order or completely misleading) that you spend ridiculous amounts of time just attempting to figure out what you are actually getting points for and what to do. And then, with all the god damn pedestrians and cars (who never really get out of your way and cause you to fall off your board if you even get nudged), redoing a challenge becomes extremely annoying.

I seriously cannot deal with game.

Also: I find it funny that skate reverts back to the "only good skaters are male" ideology. Even if you wanted to, you cannot have a female protagonist. I guess because then, in the opening cut-scene, they couldn't refer to you as "dude"?
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 7:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Neal wrote:
This is just a quick heads up, I didn't know where else to post this, but today I found a boxed copy of Darwinia for four bucks brand new at a local Big Lots. It might be worth checking out for people who would want to play it. Sorry and thank you.


i'm pretty sure if you're bargain hunting for an indie game then you're better off just torrenting it =/
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 7:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

i got the GOOD ENDING in shadow hearts
too bad the studio closed
too bad the good ending isnt c

whoa theres a screencap from kid niki i miss that game im going to go play it right now
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 12:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pink Teddy Bear wrote:
So you want easier games? Is that what you're saying?


the complaint isn't about the game being too hard, it's about the game being too cheap. there are a lot of traps in half-life 2 that will suddenly drop you from full health to near dead (exploding barrels, for example). i'd rather lose because i was unable to properly defend myself than because of an accident. (i clipped through a wooden plank yesterday, playing half-life 2, and was reduced from full health to six points.)

it wouldn't be that hard to add regenerating health to gordon's magic suit; they do it with poison already. the half-life 2 games are so fast-moving, anyway, that stopping for death seems to needlessly break the momentum. (i'm fairly certain they wanted to remove death from the game entirely, but couldn't figure out a plausible solution outside of the final run through the citadel.) their current solution, health kits strewn everywhere, is sloppy.
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 7:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ethoscapade wrote:

i'm pretty sure if you're bargain hunting for an indie game then you're better off just torrenting it =/


True, but I was there looking for cheap furniture and just happened across it. I just thought it was interesting enough to pass along. They also had Tribes Vengeance and Missing Since January, which is a fantastic game, on the cheap as well.
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 7:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just run past all the enemy dudes anyways. HL2 EP2 reminds me of typical Sven-Coop maps a lot. You run around, shoot a big horde of enemies, run around a bit more, maybe solve an easy puzzle, face another huge horde of monsters, a couple more hordes of monsters.

So, when I'm running low on health, I just run past all those monsters until I proceed, or pick up some health, because there's really no point to the horde of monsters usually, aside from adding "depth" to the game.
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 7:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

i can't really say i notice the health pack thing either way. being able to stock health packs kinda makes a game too easy (fear comes to mind, minus the ending) and my only contact with the recharge thing was cod2 (weird but ok) and halo (contextually makes sense).

then again i also know not to shoot exploding barrels. [points to degree on wall]

edit: pink, i propose we start a sunday morning tv show, with you as gore vidal to my william f. buckley.

of course there's a point to monsters - what else are you going to shoot? babies? this isn't a bioshock design doc!
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

fish wrote:
after playing a bunch of halo, followed by a bunch of HL2, i realize that i can no longer stand the traditional FPS health system that HL2 uses.

Gears of War does the health system quite well also.

The funny thing to notice here is that Portal does use this system.

All things said, HL2 manages it all pretty well. I've gotten through some tough situations with little to no health on hard in HL2 this time around. Also, I don't think Ravenholm would work with refilling health (or not as well anyways).
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 9:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

dhex wrote:
of course there's a point to monsters - what else are you going to shoot?


Yeah, I like to actually engage the enemies, even if it means I die. It's more fun that way, if less smart.
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 10:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

well it's a bit like loading up a puzzle game and then arguing with it about nicomachean ethics.
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Pink Teddy Bear
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 11:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

dhex wrote:
edit: pink, i propose we start a sunday morning tv show, with you as gore vidal to my william f. buckley.

of course there's a point to monsters - what else are you going to shoot? babies? this isn't a bioshock design doc!


I am all for that!

My problem isn't really with shooting monsters. The problem to me is that it seems like that's all you do in HL EP2. I was talking to my friend about this, and we both brought up Half-Life (the original) and we could not think of one instance where you were just presented with a big mob of monsters to kill. HL1 is an amazing game that I still pick up and play from time to time, and it doesn't need tons of filler monsters to make the game seem whole, or full of action.

I was actually very bored with HL EP2 after I got to the point where you first minor spoilers get the buggy, because there was that little area before the bridge where monsters appeared out of nowhere. You turned your back, and there was three more zombies. This was about the fourth instance of this happening too. It didn't make any sense, and that's when I realized I was playing an average shooter, with a nice candy coating (the story).

HL2 isn't the only game that suffers from this though, and talking about the state of the modern FPS would take too long for most people to care about, because we all know the story.

Also, taste.
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Scratchmonkey
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 1:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That said, a thread on the modern FPS would be awesome.
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I haven't ever felt as stifled playing a Zelda game as I do now with Phantom Hourglass.

The addition of touch-screen controls makes the sword-play more visceral (seriously, try not to have fun cutting down grass), but at the price of every puzzle being turned into a "touch-these-things-in-the-right-order" or a "draw-it-correctly!" kind of routine. Couple that with the fact that the entire open sea is essentially cut-off until a character happens to remember that another part of the world exists and that since you're a five-year old traveling with a dude in a royal blue trenchcoat, you might be able to get there, and you have an entire world that functions as if it's a room with locked doors.

I realize that the Zelda series thrives on this mechanic, but Phantom Hourglass extrapolates it into a coma of gameplay.

Also, this is the antithesis to Majora's Mask. I hold that Zelda games succeed and fail with their supporting cast. In Majora's Mask, Link exists only to serve the strange needs of the fascinating characters around him--it makes him a humble hero in a confusing, human world. In Phantom Hourglass, every single person in the world, all of whom are complete drones, only exists insofar as they help Link, and they aren't often very good at it. Part of it is the island design that isolates so many people in the world. Part of it is the scalpel approach Aonuma seems to have taken in order to "suit the needs" of portable gaming,(i.e. a quick series of experiences that can be paused often.)

Along those same lines, none of the "secrets" feel particularly secret. They're very clearly marked, and extremely uninvolved.

As a substitute for the more traditional types of adding depth to a Zelda game, Phantom Hourglass includes:

1) A frustrating and mindless mini-game of claw-grabbing that you must play every time you want to pull some booty up from the briny deep.
2) A pervasive commercial system (all in the name of ship customization!--bite me, 'rpg elements'.) the likes of which epitomizes everything that Tingle game lampoons

To subscribe to the anti-dessgeega-school-of-game-criticism in this one instance: Aonuma and his team removed all the fluff and stuffing that makes the Zelda series so frequently compelling. They were at the strop a little too long with their razor, and the product is a malnourished little jumping-through-hoops exercise.

It's awfully disappointing.
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 9:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I haven't played it, but from what you're saying it sounds as if they wanted to do a semi-reductionist Zelda but they cut away the wrong things, am I right?

Last edited by Harveyjames on Thu Oct 18, 2007 9:57 pm; edited 1 time in total
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 9:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

because my approach to design is reduce reduce reduce and helicopterp feels the result is insubstatial. i don't think they trimmed nearly enough.
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 9:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oops.

Yeah, I got it and then you replied before I had a chance to edit my post, sorry
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 3:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Harveyjames wrote:
I haven't played it, but from what you're saying it sounds as if they wanted to do a semi-reductionist Zelda but they cut away the wrong things, am I right?


That's the shorter, less scathing way to say it. But yes.
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 8:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

so, flash focus: vision training in minutes a day.

brain age, despite being labelled otherwise by kids who like explosions and melodrama in their videogame experiences, is a pretty traditional game. it presents the player with a number of short, challenging tasks, which the player is expected to repeat regularly and, through replaying, earn better and faster scores. the bravest thing it does is to present itself cleanly and plainly, to attempt to be relevant to the lives of adults rather than the fantasies of adolescents (and adolescents masquerading as adults).

flash focus was developed by namco and published by nintendo. instead of training the player's brain, it promises to train the player's eyes. don't videogames already do a pretty good job of teaching hand-eye coordination? does brain age actually improve your mental reflexes in some way any other videogame wouldn't? what's actually significant here is, again, the presentation.

the most appealing part of which, at least to me, is the straightfacedness of it. there's no great narrative about slaying robot vampires or saving the world; i'm playing simply to improve my scores. flash focus and brain age make this process as quick ("minutes a day") and painless as possible.

aside from the emphasis on vision rather than math, there are a few notable differences between flash focus and brain age. for one thing, rather than the across-the-board abstractness of brain age's tasks, flash focus's exercises are split between abstract challenges (memorize and repeat numbers that flash onscreen for just a moment) and short games based on sports (swing and hit a baseball, train with a boxing trainer). your daily "recommended training" offers a mix of both to complete, then guides you (orally) in some (skippable) eye relaxation exercises. the other neat thing is that, as you play a task, its difficulty shifts depending on how you're doing (if you're doing good, the game will become harder; if you start to struggle, the difficulty will dip back down). reaching the highest level while playing will unlock that task's "hard" mode.

i've only played one day so far, so i havn't unlocked anything beyond the initial set of exercises. more when i have.
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2007 12:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh, right. That's coming out. Or has come out. Hm.

I'm pretty interested in this, actually.
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 20, 2007 1:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Played some Gyrus on the GBA emulator today.

I'm not sure if it's a quirk of the port or how it always was but I was too foolish to notice, but my childhood notions of it being sort of like Tempest because of the tube perspective are completely gone now.

Gyrus has much more of a Galaxian in a tunnel vibe with the waves and enemy ships going into formation. also the bonus stages on each planet reminded me a bit of Galaga's Galactic Dancing but with a poorer choice of music.

But really the thing which made me feel like I was playing Galaxian was the lack of motion. There was a lot of things happening on screen, but so little of it involved my ship. It was very much like many modern shooters where you stay in place and move only ever so slightly to avoid enemy fire and place yourself in position where formations of Earthling fighters slide into your field of fire.

Tempest on the other hand was always about being on the move to control the territory instead of waiting and coping with interruptions. Movement in Gyrus is about leaving wherever you are instead of constantly seeking new destinations. Where you want to be when you press on the joystick (or d-pad this time) is never "there" so much as it is "not here."

I guess that makes it part of the living tradition, a precursor to the fantastic wild dodging, always dodging, that defines the current wave of shooting games of the doujin variety that so many of the games players rush to consume. I don't know if it's the greatest model of how things should be done, now then, or in the brave rocket powered futures that surely await us all.
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