Glen-i

Guess what the Gag gift this year was. Not shown here is an £100 Amazon voucher. Pretty good haul, I must say.

It's that time of year again. Time for every one of us to start bragging about what meaningless material possessions we got this year. I haven't opened my stuff yet. But I'll be back. Take it away. Oh, and Merry bloody Christmas, I suppose.

I have to agree with @Ike I looked up some gameplay footage of the PS2 one, and the loading times and battle speed seem glacial in comparison to the 3DS version.

Octopath Traveller basically is Bravely Third in everything but name though. I'm pretty sure it's just a Christmas message, for now.

Wow, @Sméagol I had no idea you could do that trick though. That's really cool. So, what? Do you just keep spamming the "switch art style" button?

Shame about the "No Fun Allowed" police stepping in there, but apart from that, things seem to have gone smoothly. That magic Boomerang just might be one of the jammiest things I've seen in Mario Kart lately. But here we are, the end of the Mini League. What have we learned from this utter shambles? Some people are such Teacher's Pets, that they will happily lower their average in order to keep that perfect attendance. Inward drift is far too advanced for you nonces. Driving backwards is somehow against the rules. It will take years to exhaust the internet's supply of Fresh Prince GIF's (Assuming a certain someone doesn't just make more) I've done more accounting in 3 months than I've ever done in my life. Smart Steering is named ironically. Because everyone here becomes on average 43% dumber with it on. If @RedShell fires something backwards at the finish line, there's an 80% chance it'll hit me. @Nicktendo and I make such an impression that no-one votes for us. Mushrooms Only races work surprisingly well. But most importantly... I want to thank everyone who took part, the league would be pretty damn boring if you lot didn't take part. And let's face it, you put up with some really stupid ideas without much complaining. I especially want to thank @BowserBasher for hosting the rooms each week, suggesting a few themes and dealing with my more demanding themes. You made my life a lot easier. I should also give special thanks to @Dcubed, for letting me use his Switch and copy of MK8D in the first place. As well as inspiring a few ideas for theme nights. And finally, thanks to previous League Boss @The Mole for giving me all the files and stuff I needed to take over this league. As for next year, 25th January is when the 2018 League will start. I will open a new thread around a week before it starts. I hope to see you all there.

Yo there, let me tell you about a little spin-off series called Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. Because if you thought Lillie's character arc in Sun/Moon was a step in the right direction... Man, if Game Freak came along and said "Hey, we're gonna have those blokes at Chun Soft do the plot", I'd flip my lid.

I wouldn't be so sure. Fire Emblem Echoes, as much as I love that game, does lock all the best classes behind DLC. Xenoblade isn't the first one to do something like that. Even Pokemon Mystery Dungeon almost went down that route with the first 3DS title, but it thankfully redeemed itself by completely dropping any DLC for Super Mystery Dungeon. The game was better for it.

OK, @Ronnie Well played. I still stand by my criticisms though.

So what? I'm not entitled an opinion because you've heard it before? With all due respect, who made you Magistrate of Opinion? By that same logic, I can apply the same "Heard it already, therefore, shut up" approach to half of the posters here. But seeing as you want something fresh and exciting, how about this? I think the latest DLC retreads the same boring old process this game runs under. A whole bunch of busywork that amounts to very little and absolutely fails to address any of the numerous flaws I perceived from my well over 50 hours of playtime. (Before you even try that "You didn't play it enough" twoddle) The "Story" content is down right laughable. A few cutscenes that don't really add much to a bunch of characters I really don't care about. One of the cutscenes even glitched out and had no voice acting playing. Which was probably the most I actually smiled at the game for quite a while. I'd be OK with that, but it was advertised as "Story DLC" This is the first Nintendo console DLC I've regretted buying. And I bought PMD: Gates to Infinity content, but at least with that I knew what I was getting. Going from the likes of MK8 and Hyrule Warriors to this is a massive downgrade to say the least.

Don't run with candles. Or while sleeping.

How about you put me on your ignore list then?

I'm certainly not the guy to ask when it comes to Photoshop, never used it ever. But @RedShell did a smashing job on my signature. So maybe he can help? BTW, my Paint skills are way more awesome than yours. You can't one-up that. Just go home!

Doesn't that series kinda do that already? The three Prime games have much more subdued soundtracks in general than other Metroid games. EDIT: BTW, I've been meaning to ask, has anyone tried using the Master Cycle Zero to fight Ganon? I hope it works because it'd be hilarious! I'd do it, but that would mean I'd have to play more BOTW and I can't think of a more unfun way to spend my time.

Hey, you know what has the same letters as Lufia? Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals is the sequel to SNES RPG Lufia & the Fortress of Doom. Making it the second game in the Lufia series, and the third Lufia game I played. But it's a prequel, making it the first Lufia game? OK, I confused myself... It came out for the SNES in 1996, and amazingly enough, did come out in Europe. I'm gonna assume you read the above write up for Lufia I did 2 days ago, it's not that far back. The story follows a guy called Maxim who appeared in the first 5 minutes of Lufia 1. He's a Monster Hunter, making money by keeping his hometown safe. One day, a strange ball of light is seen flying through the sky, this immediately causes the local monsters to nick a key for a door in a cave for no reason. Maxim steps in to save the day and meets a strange woman called Iris. Iris informs Maxim that he is destined to fight against a group of evil super-beings known as the Sinistrals. And so Maxim is sent on a quest and you can figure out the rest. Taken on it's own, the story is your typical Retro JRPG shlock, but if you've played Lufia 1, you'll immediately realise it's a prequel, and I can't think of any games from that era that tried to pull something like that off. It's quite ambitious for it's time, with lots of small little references to the original game that provide a bit of backstory to the, admittedly, simple story. It's a nice treat for people who played the original and adds a little bit of depth to the proceedings. The twists do kinda suffer a bit. They're not as cool as Lufia 1's, but when you already know how the game ends, it's kinda hard to throw something surprising in there. The basic gameplay is similar to Lufia 1, and a lot of JRPG's. There's a few QoL improvements and neat little features (An optional dungeon that temporarily reduces your party's level to 1, a handful of recruitable monsters that fight alongside your party, a lot like Pokemon, they even evolve and learn new moves. [This came out before Pokemon in Japan]) But the key difference that took me completely by surprise are the dungeons, specifically the puzzles. Puzzles, in a JRPG! From the 90's! That's unheard of! And some of them left me absolutely stumped for bloody ages. That one on the right has one of the most amazing solutions. I couldn't believe it actually worked when I tried it. The dungeons are such a massive improvement over the original, or pretty much any RPG of the time, it reminded me a lot of Golden Sun. And this game should be commended for it's puzzle design. They're great. But I can't overlook the fact that this game has a few bugs to it. Most of them are pretty harmless, some are even quite funny. But there is one point in the game where you're gonna have to look up a guide because a room you have to go through is completely and utterly borked. Perfectly navigable Thankfully, it's a small room that just involves constantly going up and turning left or right when you hit a wall. It's also only an issue in the American version. The European one doesn't have this issue. The visuals are nicer than Lufia 1, even if the enemy animations are still a bit basic. The music, on the other hand, is a noticeable step up from the original game, the normal battle music has an insanely catchy beat that I will never truly get out of my head. And the music that plays when you fight the Sinistrals is definitely a highlight. I am absolutely astounded by how good this game is. Especially after playing Lufia 1. The RPG gameplay is solid. The puzzles could give some Zelda games a run for their money and it all just feels so much more satisfying, it's a shame about the glitches, but you can look past them pretty easily. Currently, Taito is owned by Square Enix, which going by their attitude towards the Virtual Console during the WiiU era, doesn't give a good chance of this game getting released anytime soon. I really hope it does make it though. Because this might just be the most underappreciated RPG on the SNES.

It could be "run"? As in "to run my life properly" That'd make sense. You'd have to be pretty drunk to think alcohol could help you run your life well.

Damn it! This tells me nothing!

You kinda have to be at least a bit mental to be an artist. So, you know. That helps. I'm pretty sure that happens when you don't input any action for a certain amount of time. So it should be fine, seeing as everyone will be actively going backwards at all times. If you or anyone else is up for helping me with a test reverse run (I suggest Baby Park) some time tonight, that'd be helpful. Just to make sure.

Isn't it a tad early to be relying on audience scores? It's only been 2 days. I'd give it at least a week for it to get more people's opinions.

High Jump Kick's 90% accuracy clearly doesn't apply to me. I expected it to lose me a couple of matches, but it ruined me in 5 separate occasions in 15 battles. But that example was definitely the worst. I knew I couldn't pull off a one-hit KO, so I went with Acrobatics, and then SURPRISE! High Jump Kick! If I needed the extra oomph next turn. Which I did. The one time I used it, typical. I experimented with that Hawlucha set in the Battle Tree and it worked a treat. The extra Defense boost can really ruin someone's momentum if they go physical. Iron Head totally wrecks Alolan Ninetales which people love to bust out as a Hawlucha counter and Thunder Punch gets a nice boost from Terrain. I can see Hawlucha slamming it's way into my go-to team. It contemplates my team nicely.

Hey, you know what people didn't like in the Sun and Moon thread? That's right. My bloody Battle Videos. The first US/UM online competition has started. Johto VS Alola (That title is misleading, I thought it'd be Gen 2 and Gen 7 only, it actually means Alola Pokedex plus Gen 2 and Gen 1 Pokemon, why are all Gen 1 Pokemon allowed?) Good news is Megas seem to be back! Woo! Team Dragon Croissant Spaceship go! 8ATG-WWWW-WWWB-RM8Q This match pretty much sums up my first half of today's matches. Be amazed at my dreadful luck as some random Japanese girl and the millionth Mimikyu takes me to school yet again. U35G-WWWW-WWWB-RMUL Gen 5 music, FTW! Anyway, this was some weird match. Here's a game. Try and guess what my opponent's opening move is. You'll never get it. H47W-WWWW-WWWB-RNW8 This guy only entered this competition to show off his hacked Pokemon. Because nothing says "My team is hacked" like a team of Shinies. This time, I get to be the random Japanese girl and proceed to get through completely unscathed. Quick impressions of the meta are that it hasn't changed too much, except for Kommo-o's new completely insane Z-Move. What were they thinking!? Balance goes right out of the window with that. It's bad enough that it hits like a nuke and hits both opponents in a double battle, but it also raises all of Kommo-o's stats? How is that fair? Luckily, Kommo-o hasn't got the speed or the defenses to back it up, getting two Pokemon to gang up on it normally does it in. Hawlucha is catching all sorts of people off guard though, instant momentum thanks to Tapu Koko's Electric Surge using the Electric Seed instantly doubles it's speed thanks to Unburden. Fits beautifully with my Alolan Raichu based shenanigans. Just gotta watch out for Oranguru and it's Trick Room. Marowak is there to provide a hard counter to anyone who tries to one-up me with Pheromosa while Zapdos and Tailwind is a back up Pokemon just in case Tapu Koko would be unwise to use.

Different strokes for different folks, but I could listen to good Zelda music for days. A Link Between World's Lorule version of Death Mountain is something I never get sick of. You're also assuming there'd be only one track. Why couldn't we have had a decent track for each region? Maybe some interactive music. Nintendo have some amazing composers and it feels like a massive waste for a game of this scale. It's not just the overworld. Villages, Divine Beasts, it's all so forgettable. Hyrule Castle is the only track I actually liked, and I would never dream of putting it even close to the same tier as Lorule Castle.

Hmmm... Can't say I have, we should start a conversation about it. I get that the music is designed to be minimalist, but for me, the soundtrack plays a big part of my enjoyment when I play games. It sits above visuals for me. A good song can really make a moment for me (Jump Up, Super Star for one) while a bad song can totally take me out of a moment (Whatever the hell that awful song in the last section of Odyssey was). BOTW's soundtrack for the most part exentuates how bored I was. I only remember two songs, and only vaguely. I'd take a bad soundtrack over a minimalist one any day. Hell, at least I remember Xenoblade Chronicles X's (c)rappy soundtrack.

What do you think started this line of conversation? Near the top of the page.

Quick highlight at @Dcubed's expense. (He's on the left) Anyway, here's the results. GP3 And here's the current League Table. Not much to say here this week. Except that @RedShell wins the "Didn't make a damn bit of difference" award this week. But given his high average, that's quite remarkable. So next week is the grand finale, to both my December Death Themes and 2017's League. The results look pretty much decided. Nothing short of an utter madman could disrupt this flow. Wait... Who's running the League right now? Ah... Well, isn't that a shame? Last League Night: 21st December 8pm Room 1 @BowserBasher is host @Glen-i @BowserBasher @martinist @punio75 @viceview51 No, the picture hasn't glitched up, there will be 1 GP this week. But with a big massive twist. You think you know the tracks in Mario Kart 8 by now? Well, we will see about that. This week's gimmick no-one asked for is Backwards Racing. Everyone will be reversing throughout the entire night. You go forward, you come last. I will know. Don't even try it. And you thought 50cc was slow. Here's a little maneuver that you will need in order to get through this. Pulling this off is simple, just hold the brake and accelerate button at the same time and turn, you'll spin on the spot. Another key thing to remember is that holding X lets you look behind you. No doubt important when driving backwards. You'll also need to think carefully about items, not every item is going to help you here. The tracks are all possible to do backwards without ever going off course, I made sure of that. Remember the golden rule: All progress must be done backwards. I will check MKTV afterwards, I've got nothing better to do. Sign up Now!