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Post by VectorX on Oct 29, 2013 8:22:39 GMT -5
That's too bad when a game is messed up due to yielding camera crap.
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Post by gliptitude on Oct 31, 2013 17:15:03 GMT -5
Currently playing 3DS exclusively:
- Ocarina of Time 3D - Reissue of the N64 game in 3D. Simply amazing. I feel like a fool for not learning about this game earlier. I am completely immersed. It's not just the tightest implementation of established elements and tropes but also the origin of some of them. It's astounding that such an early 3D adventure game is this solid.
- Kid Icarus Uprising - Incredible 3D graphics, wonderful content but RIDICULOUS control scheme. The game is playable but requires a lot of commitment, (like playing at a table with the console harnessed in the special Kid Icarus 3DS stand).
- Kirby's Adventure 3D - (also mentioned by wyldephang a page back in this thread) I didn't know this franchise had a NES game or that it was this interesting. The celebrated "copy" ability, (in which Kirby swallows an enemy in order to gain that enemy's particular power or weapon), is indeed worthy of the praise it gets. .. I think the only Kirby game I've ever played was a Game Boy one which predated the copy technique. .. The game looks pretty slick in 3D too.
... In the mail are Starfox 64 3D, Resident Evil Revelations and a Circle Pad Pro peripheral, (adds second analog stick to 3DS for Resident Evil). ... Not generally into this game or its type, but think it might be cool immersive type for 3DS, and also one of the very few reasons to try out the Circle Pad Pro. .. Very unusual to see a controller peripheral for a handheld.
.....
Will of course be playing Vectrex tomorrow. I'm thinking Bloxorz demo, WotW, Vector Pilot and Web Wars.
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Post by wyldephang on Nov 1, 2013 3:30:42 GMT -5
Currently playing 3DS exclusively: - Ocarina of Time 3D - Reissue of the N64 game in 3D. Simply amazing. I feel like a fool for not learning about this game earlier. I am completely immersed. It's not just the tightest implementation of established elements and tropes but also the origin of some of them. It's astounding that such an early 3D adventure game is this solid. - Kid Icarus Uprising - Incredible 3D graphics, wonderful content but RIDICULOUS control scheme. The game is playable but requires a lot of commitment, (like playing at a table with the console harnessed in the special Kid Icarus 3DS stand). - Kirby's Adventure 3D - (also mentioned by wyldephang a page back in this thread) I didn't know this franchise had a NES game or that it was this interesting. The celebrated "copy" ability, (in which Kirby swallows an enemy in order to gain that enemy's particular power or weapon), is indeed worthy of the praise it gets. .. I think the only Kirby game I've ever played was a Game Boy one which predated the copy technique. .. The game looks pretty slick in 3D too. ... In the mail are Starfox 64 3D, Resident Evil Revelations and a Circle Pad Pro peripheral, (adds second analog stick to 3DS for Resident Evil). ... Not generally into this game or its type, but think it might be cool immersive type for 3DS, and also one of the very few reasons to try out the Circle Pad Pro. .. Very unusual to see a controller peripheral for a handheld. ..... Will of course be playing Vectrex tomorrow. I'm thinking Bloxorz demo, WotW, Vector Pilot and Web Wars. I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying Kirby and Zelda on the 3DS. In my opinion, Ocarina of Time is the definitive adventure game to own for the Nintendo 64, so it's only natural that the 3DS adaptation would focus on everything that made the original great. One thing I noticed about the game is that there's a great variety of dungeons, each with its unique aesthetic based on the element it represents: the Fire Temple has you making hazardous jumps over molten lava, the Water Temple has its extended diving sequences, the Forest Temple has you scaling vines, and so forth. And I like that each half of the game has its own distinct set of adventures; the locations you visit as a child will not necessarily resemble what you come across as an adult. Some of the dungeons in the earlier portion of the game tend to be more organic--that is, more anatomy than architecture--but everything changes later. If you haven't yet reached this phase of the game, then I won't spoil the details for you. Just the same, I know you won't be disappointed. The adventure just keeps building, and doesn't let up until the end. And if you think the story is progressing too quickly, then you can focus on one of the side objectives for a while: take up horse racing, ghost hunting, or fishing; collect upgrades you missed earlier; play mini-games, or take part in one of the trading quests. To complete Ocarina of Time 100 percent is time well invested, I'd say. The game is simply overflowing with content. I've heard Revelations is an exceptionally haunting game, complete with dark corridors and terror lurking around every corner. The Ooze monsters seem to be modeled after the Resident Evil 4 regenerators, which were unquestionably the creepiest enemies of that game--always appearing when you least expected them, and lunging when you least wanted them to. I can't vouch for the quality of the gameplay, but I have seen the game in action and it appears to control smoothly. This is the kind of series innovation true Resident Evil fans embrace, the kind of innovation that made Resident Evil 4 an unprecedented success. The latest outing, Resident Evil 6, borrows too heavily from Call of Duty and modern FPS games to even merit its distinction as a Resident Evil game, much less a core game.
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Post by gliptitude on Nov 1, 2013 18:09:19 GMT -5
Yes, Ocarina of Time is just so solid and full of gratifying gaming. I think the thing that is most surprising to me is how smooth the physics and the camera are. Maybe not perfect, but indeed superior to many more recent adventure games with a 3D environment. (I'm not sure how the 3DS version compares to the original, but I assume it is the same).
Also the feel of this game, the expansive scenery and the structure of the map as well as a few more literal elements cause me to take a step back in my long standing exaltation of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus as complete originals. ... I had considered those games to be without rival. But now I think that they both owe a lot to Ocarina of Time.
... So now I am seriously considering getting a real N64, just so I can play Majora's Mask. Apparently a lot of core Zelda fans consider it to be even better and it looks like the original hardware (plus the Expansion Pak) is the best way to go with this one, the only alternative being a Game Cube version. .. Will be tough for me to get over that goofy controller though.
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Post by wyldephang on Nov 2, 2013 3:21:04 GMT -5
Good point. I would say Shadow of the Colossus is more visually breathtaking than Ocarina of Time, but the progression is more linear. If there existed a blend of Ocarina's open-world environment and Shadow's dark aesthetic, I'd say that Twilight Princess for the GameCube/Wii comes very close to it. It is everything you'd expect from a Zelda game, but bleak, more downbeat and graphic. (To date, it's the only Zelda game to have received a Teen rating.) Twilight Princess invokes some of Shadow's darkness by splitting the narrative into two realms, the light world and dark world. Not long after you're submerged in the twilight, you're desperate to get out; it's a very lonesome world, inspiring the same feeling of isolation as Kafka's Metamorphosis did for me. Twilight Princess is essentially the diametric opposite of Wind Waker (GameCube), which is lighthearted and charming, as the art style probably implies.
Majora's Mask is not as somber as Twilight Princess, but it's darker than Ocarina of Time at least. The plot involves a doomsday scenario of sorts: a falling moon threatens to engulf the land, and you have three days to somehow prevent that from happening. At peak times, you can glance up in the sky and see it looming there, its rocky countenance twisted in anger. In many ways, this game is superior to Ocarina of Time; the textures and details are enhanced, the characters have more articulation. Where Majora's Mask falls short for me is the time limit. Exploration is prioritized in almost every Zelda game, but in Majora's Mask, your adventure is broken up into intervals and you can never shake the feeling of being rushed. You can cycle back in time to prevent the third day from expiring, but you'll lose your consumables (e.g, arrows, bombs) in the process and your money will disappear unless you store it in the bank. Also, any incomplete side quests will be reset, though you can obtain a notebook in the game to keep track of which quests you need to complete. Still, these complaints don't prevent Majora's Mask from being a great game, and one of my top ten to own for the console.
As for the N64 controller, it's awkwardly designed, and most unfortunate should you run into the occasional game that requires the use of both the D-pad and analog stick. But most of the developers understood the limitations of the controller layout and were careful to engineer the game to be as ergonomic and sensible as possible. Games like Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64, and Star Fox 64 are played with the analog stick only, meaning that you'll never need to fiddle with the D-pad at any point in the game. If you do make the decision to purchase an N64, I'd be happy to send some suggestions your way. It's still one of my mainstay consoles; I'm actually in the middle of a Majora's Mask playthrough.
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Post by gliptitude on Nov 2, 2013 16:06:27 GMT -5
Hmm. I don't know much of anything about Twilight Princess, but I do have a Game Cube somewhere. .. I had heard about the time limit, 3 day cycle etc in Majora's Mask and that sounded very interesting to me. I can see how it might be annoying though.
I have seen that many (most?) N64 games use the analog stick only, and that you are intended to hold the center handle with your left hand. That does not look uncomfortable to me but I just hate the design. The controller could basically be half the size that it is, and it looks so ugly. Very strange that the previous Nintendo consoles had such awesome iconic controllers and then this one comes along, and seems to simultaneously have the LEAST amount of options for alternative controllers. NES and SNES each have dozens, even though the standard ones are great, while the N64 has TWO (that I have found so far), both being fairly rare and neither being a whole lot different than the standard. ... I have seen some custom hacks though, that eliminate the d-pad, and one of those hacks I think is documented step-by-step.
As a "collector", the industrial design of consoles and controllers is much more important to me than "completeness", rarity or condition. Vectrex, Game Boy and the SNES pad are all brilliant, stylish and economical designs. ... The N64 controller is a major turn off for me. If it weren't for that console being the last cartridge based non-handheld, I probably wouldn't be considering getting into it at all.
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Post by detonator on Nov 11, 2013 22:11:16 GMT -5
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Post by VectorX on Nov 11, 2013 22:21:18 GMT -5
I've been playing it on the iPad for months Very good app!
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Post by wyldephang on Dec 26, 2013 20:10:18 GMT -5
On Christmas Day, I achieved a goal ten years in the making: beating Final Fantasy X. I started my first playthrough back in 2003, but I ditched the game near the end because I feared I wasn't ready for the final boss. The next year, we all moved to Maryland. The PlayStation 2 went over to my brother's house, and I got an Xbox 360 a few years later, so I wasn't in a rush to dig up older games and complete them. (As you can tell, I've since adopted a different outlook on older games.) When my brother moved to a new apartment, that all but extinguished my chances of completing my old playthrough of Final Fantasy X. But as you know, I acquired a PS2 of my own this year, and along with it a memory card and Final Fantasy X. So, it was time for me to play the game from start to finish as I had intended years ago. As it turns out, the ending wasn't as intimidating as I thought it'd be. Remember, I turned the game away in 2003-04 because I was afraid the final boss would be too difficult. To my surprise, the final boss of Final Fantasy X is actually the easiest boss in the entire franchise, as it's impossible to die during the fight unless you deliberately try to kill yourself! To be fair, just before the final fight there is a preliminary boss battle in which your characters can be killed, and it's important to be cautious at this stage of the game. As it turns out, I killed this boss is one hit, so I must have been a little overprepared. Still, I enjoyed the playthrough. I have a few options on the table right now. I can pick up Final Fantasy XII, but in all likelihood I'll give that series a break for a little bit. There's also Dragon Quest VIII, which is a recent pick-up, along with a pile of other PS2 games. Since I'm on a break from school, I'm planning to read one or two books over the winter break, so I may set aside the video games while I get caught up with that. Sometime between books, though, I'd like to start one of the games I collected in my Christmas haul--I'll have to update the pick-ups thread with my latest additions.
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Post by gliptitude on Dec 26, 2013 20:34:06 GMT -5
I got the new 3DS Zelda game, Link Between Worlds, yesterday. Have logged 4 hours so far, (3DS keeps track of this). It is kind of a remix of Link to the Past and it is nothing compared to the 3D remake of Ocarina of Time. .. It also breaks from Zelda tradition a lot by making most (all?) of the items available for purchase from the beginning of the game, rather than finding them in the various dungeons.
I got to play Ocarina of Time in it's original form on N64 a week or so ago. YUK! .. I still can't deal with N64 graphics and I am very grateful for the 3DS revision. I never ever would have caught onto this game otherwise.
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Post by VectorX on Dec 26, 2013 20:44:12 GMT -5
Stellar Track (2600) Rockaroids Vectris
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Post by wyldephang on Dec 26, 2013 20:45:10 GMT -5
I got to play Ocarina of Time in it's original form on N64 a week or so ago. YUK! .. I still can't deal with N64 graphics and I am very grateful for the 3DS revision. I never ever would have caught onto this game otherwise. When I first saw Ocarina of Time, I thought it was outstanding. Everything left me breathless: the rolling hills on the world map, textured environments, enormous dungeons, cascading rivers and waterfalls. But by today's standards, I suppose that early polygonal technology leaves a bit to be desired. In fact, all of the 3D games from that generation look rough--especially on the PlayStation, where there was no texture filtering to smooth out the characters and environments. Still, even today, I always tend to overlook these design flaws.
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Post by TrekMD on Dec 27, 2013 0:40:49 GMT -5
Yesterday, for Christmas, I had a Christmas video game marathon. What did I play? Here is the list: - Christmas Carols vs the Ghost of Christmas Presents (Intellivision)
- Daze Before Christmas (Sega Genesis)
- Fix It Felix Jr (Genesis - had to, even if it's not a Christmas game!)
- 8-Bit Xmas 2013 (NES)
- Endless Snow (2600)
- Santa's Helper (2600)
- Mean Santa (2600)
- Reindeer Rescue (2600)
- Stella's Stocking (2600)
- Toyshop Trouble (2600)
- Holiday Qb (2600)
- Elf (GBA)
- Elf Bowling 1 & 2 (GBA)
- The Polar Express (GBA)
- Santa Saves the World (GBA)
- Santa Clause 3 (GBA)
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Post by VectorX on Dec 27, 2013 10:11:14 GMT -5
What's Endless Snow like/about?
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Post by TrekMD on Dec 27, 2013 10:36:15 GMT -5
Endless Snow is a homebrew where you have to shovel snow from the front of your house while making sure you don't freeze. You have to grab hot cocoa to stay warm as your wife puts it on the window. Here is a video:
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