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Grazza

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Posts posted by Grazza

  3. Posted

    I read absolute ages ago, and I think I mentioned this before, but I heard that Nintendo might make the next zelda a first person action game and with motion-plus no doubt will be incorporated into it, it might just work perfectly.

     

    Yes, allegedly, Twilight Princess has been shown behind closed doors running in 1st-person perspective. I'd prefer the ability to switch between 1st-person and 3rd-person/over-the-shoulder, personally. Either way, it would be good to be closer to the action.

  4. Posted

    They still are, Zelda's dungeons are pretty hard, while the enemies are easy, Galaxy is easy, but hard to finish 100%, Wario needs skill to truly be finished, Prime 3 is pretty hard, etc...

     

    I don't disagree with any of that, but what Prime 3 and Twilight Princess don't have is immediacy. I found the tutorial for Prime 3 much harder than the original Prime, not only because the motion controls don't work very well, but Retro were never the best at accessibilty anyway. How many casual gamers are going to sit through that, or the three hours Twilight Princess takes to get going? (I point out, again, that a couple of hours were added to both versions so people could get used to the primitive Wii controls.)

     

    The next Zelda should start with a rudimentary sword and shield and, BAM, you're into the game. Then casual gamers would have far more idea what the game is really about, and it might be more popular.

     

    Also, why do you always bring up the camera thing, not only is it very lossely related to this, they didn't choose not to do it, it's simply not viable to do it in Zelda with the current control scheme. Galaxy had camera control.

     

    Why do you dislike me saying it? It's strongly related to the balance between making games and systems more accessible/casual.

  5. Posted

    The ideal is to have something accessible enough for casual* gamers, but have enough challenge, control and freedom for core gamers.

     

    Nintendo used to be excellent at this - look at Super Mario World or Link to the Past. Whilst Zelda is not an RPG, it takes the best elements from them and makes it accessible, creating a new genre.

     

    Nintendo really ought to bring back camera control for their next console. I can understand not everyone likes to control the camera, but other people do. The ideal is to have a good camera that you don't need to adjust, but you can if you want to. If the game chooses every angle for you, it's less interactive and more like a film.

     

    * "core" and "casual" used for ease.

  6. Posted

    No, the games won't be fully installed in the HDD, you'll still need the disc. Even when you installed games in the first one (dont remember if through modding or not), even though the loading times got smaller it certainly didn't provide a perfect solution.

     

    I thought you only needed the disc for anti-piracy reasons?

     

    TPs loadings aren't bad, of course that if the game as made ground up for Wii it could've been faster, but they're still fast and not insufferable by any means.

     

    They were very bad compared to Wind Waker (which, of course, is the only other disc-based Zelda) and all previous Zeldas. It does seem to me that the Wii is a lot worse than the GameCube with loading times. In Metroid Prime 3, for example, you have to wait in front of every door before it opens (ie. the room loads), whereas you didn't in Metroid Prime.

     

    What I'm saying about Twilight Princess, is that I think the code was written to suit the Wii's loading times, and could have been faster if it was a pure GameCube game.

  7. Posted

    forget specs for a moment, how could any console completely negate load times, while remaining disk media? Thats what Nintendo need to concentrate on- there load times are killing me!

     

    I couldn't agree more. Perhaps the Xbox 360 has the perfect solution, in how (after the dashboard update) you will be able to fully install any game onto the hard drive.

     

    Maybe this is why Zelda: Twilight Princess has such bad loading times? I own both versions now and the Wii version is just as slow. I'm inclined to think the Wii version was just ported back in every way.

  8. Posted

    Censorship is OK as long as it reflects the masses in the territory that carries it out. For example, the alteration of Mario Party 8 for Europe was essential, as the use of "spastic" as an insult would genuinely offend most decent British people. I dare say most British people would also find Manhunt 2 unacceptable.

     

    The censorship of Little Big Planet, though, bothers me as it does mean we no longer have freedom of artistic expression (or at least, we can't enjoy commercial products that would use it). The designers obviously wanted to set a certain tone, now they are not allowed to.

     

    What if a small minority of Muslims wanted us to take pigs out of games? It would genuinely limit our artistic freedom. The reason I mention this is that the Moblins (which are pig-like and one of the most classic Zelda enemies) were actually taken out of Twilight Princess (Ganon wasn't as pig-like as usual either) and weren't in Phantom Hourglass either. You never know...

  9. Posted

    I've looked at it, and I've heard rumours that this new 60 GB version has better build quality (AKA, no red ring of d00m). Is this true?

     

    I did read (on CVG) that the latest models are Jaspers (ie. the 3rd version of the 360). If the rumours are true, then the 4th and final version will be the Valhalla.

     

    I get confused about the hard drives though. Does anyone know if ones bigger than 60GB are officially on their way soon?

  10. Posted

    Turtles II The Arcade game on the NES was a joy to play. It finally gave me and my mates a reason to stay at home and not go to the swimming baths. Im sure the NES version had a few extra levels/bosses over the arcade one. I remember we could never beat it legit so we slammed in the Game Genie and tanned the game with infinite lives!

     

    I finally completed it when I bought Ninja Turtles 2 for the GameCube (terrible game, but it was an unlockable)! It did feel a bit unsatisfying using infinite continues, but I don't think those Konami games (Turtles, Simpsons, X-Men) can be completed purely on skill. They seem to be designed so that you have to put loads of money in! Of course that's coin-ops for you, but the Konami ones do stand out to me in that regard.

     

    There was a great little game made by Sega on the original Xbox called Spikeout. I played that to death in single player and with friends over Xbox Live. It was in 3D but it kept the classic feel of just beating the hell out of everything that moved.

     

    Ah, yes, I played that in the arcade! I was trying to think what it was called a while ago, actually. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a Dreamcast port too.

     

    On the Sega Saturn I used to play Guardian Heroes alot. It was and still is a gem of a game that added a decent story and a little RPG elements into the mix.

     

    Brilliant! I don't know how I forgot that one. Of course, another difference with this was that, for the depth, you jumped between three pre-set planes.

     

    Turtles IV though, is also something else. Despite it's license potentially condemning it to be a product of it's time, it still has the goods to bring you back for one more go.

     

    Is that Turtles in Time? Yeah, I had that on the SNES. Forgot about that one too.

     

    Perhaps because of that, I can't quite explain the disappointment of playing Streets of Rage 3 for the first time on VC when it got released.. maybe if I had played the game years ago it would have been special to me but probably because I didn't I just feel nothing for the game (very much like how I feel with the fairly recently purchased Banjo-Tooie after loving Banjo-Kazooie back in the day.. just a massive let down :hmm:)

     

    Streets of Rage 3 did come quite late, and I remember I wasn't really interested in the Mega Drive any more. This is one of the problems with extremely long console lifespans, in my opinion.

     

    Because of this disappointment, I have resisted getting Golden Axe II and III as it is likely they won't be able to replicate the feelings and memories of the first game..

     

    That's probably wise, although I still want to try Golden Axe III. I remember when I first found Golden Axe II in the shops. I couldn't believe my luck, as it hadn't even been reviewed in the magazines! I snapped it up, but it wasn't great. It was worth it at the time though, for some 2-player variety.

     

    When I got home a few days later (I was staying away), a pal called round for a bike ride. I'm ashamed to say I told him I'd got Golden Axe II (which he didn't know about either), so we played that for ages instead!

     

    Speaking of ones fixed on a 2D plane (like Viewtiful Joe), I also loved Bad Dudes vs Dragonninja. Once, I was playing the coin-op at the seaside and was so excited I was shaking with adrenaline!

     

    I always wanted home ports of the later, 4-player ones like Spider-Man and X-Men, but they came at an awkward time. The SNES, Mega Drive and Mega CD weren't really powerful enough to do them and by the time consoles became 4-player as standard, things had moved on...

     

    I still never tried Rival Turf though. ;) A pal did mention it, but I don't think he ever bought it (it didn't get great reviews). There was one SNES beat 'em up I was really interested in, but I'm not sure it was ever released in Europe. It looked really good, and was previewed around the same time as Sonic Blastman (home version), but I can't remember much about it at all.

  12. Posted

    I really like Wii Fit and would even say it's the best thing I've played on the Wii (and I own Zelda and Metroid!) You're right, Hero of Time, that it's extremely competitive in groups. I love the press-ups and the Balance Board is an incredibly impressive piece of hardware, much more so than the motion control or even the pointer.

  14. Posted

    The one thing that im not that happy with is what levels your new characters arrive at. My Cecil and Rydia are in their mid 20s and then Edward arrived at level 9! Needless to say I watched a couple of episodes of Scrubs while I levelled him up.

     

    LOL, I love this anecdote! Final Fantasy IV - the game that plays itself! :)

     

    I found in FFXII that guest characters would often arrive about 5-10 levels ahead of my characters, but by the time I bid them farewell, my party was of a higher level than the guests. Sounds like it's the other way round in FFIV!

  15. Posted

    Thanks for the link, Hero of Time.

     

    I really don't think people are being inconsistent or using hindsight when they praise Wind Waker. After all, it got 40/40 in Famitsu and excellent reviews elsewhere. I for one said it was the best game ever the first time I played it, and I've been saying the same ever since.

     

    Of course, not everyone likes it, but who's to say they have changed their minds? I respect darkjak's opinion of it, because although his tastes are obviously different to my own, he's been completely consistent.

     

    Quite simply, to a lot of people (whether you prefer the cartoony or realistic style), TP was not as good as OoT, MM or WW. MM and WW were so good, it was easy to take them on their own merits and not compare them too much to OoT. Twilight Princess, on the other hand, had so many flaws, it was extremely difficult to overlook them.

     

    It seems to me when anyone expresses disappointment with Twilight Princess it's put down to "hype", "expectations", "nostalgia" or "hindsight". If the next Zelda is terrible, of course we'll be saying "It's not as good as Twilight Princess", but that won't be hindsight.

  16. Posted

    For my first thread, I thought I'd continue our conversation about scrolling beat 'em ups! As darksnowman suggested, I don't want to derail King V's thread.

     

    How I loved walking along bashing the baddies!

     

    I think the first one I played was Double Dragon, and it was huge influence on me. The first time I saw it was in a local leisure centre. I put my money in, got as far as when the Abobo punches through the wall, and it was Game Over! The whole thing was so exciting, it really used to get my adrenaline pumping!

     

    Then came Golden Axe on the Mega Drive. I hadn't actually played the coin-op, but trusted my friends that it was an essential buy. Much 2-player bliss followed. I received it and the Mega Drive on Christmas Day, and took it round my friend's (who also got one, but not Golden Axe), because I couldn't get it to work (it was my first console and I wasn't pushing the cartridges in hard enough!) We're now 30 and we still laugh about it!

     

    In the late '80s, we had Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which was at another leisure centre. I was such a fan of the cartoon, it was impossibly exciting to be able to control Donatello, Leonardo & co, and fight Bebop and Rocksteady. Every single week in my school diary, I used to write "On Saturday I am going to go swimming and play Turtles!" Every week (I was boring!)

     

    Then, of course, came Final Fight. I very much enjoyed the SNES version, and also bought it on GBA and Capcom Classics Collection on Xbox. Probably the most timely version was the Mega CD edition, which, although I didn't play, was the complete game. (By the way, I didn't play Rival Turf.)

     

    I never owned Streets of Rage, but played it a lot (great music), and I did buy Streets of Rage II.

     

    Later on in the '90s we found a brand new Golden Axe in the arcades, where you could ride scorpions and such! The funny thing is, I already had Golden Axe II on the Mega Drive, so we called this (which was much better) Golden Axe II-III! (I never actually played Golden Axe III.)

     

    My favourite was probably Sega's 4-player Spider-Man. The sprite-scaling seemed brilliant at the time, as well as the ability to play as Spidey and fight all the classic villains. Konami's X-Men was not bad either.

     

    What are your favourites?

  17. Posted

    The Streets of Rage bit. That game is SO overrated, and I know you're very level headed, so you wouldn't be looking at it through rose tinted glasses. :heh:

     

    Do you know what, I always thought Streets of Rage was overrated! I enjoyed playing my friends' copies, but it was hailed as better than Golden Axe and Double Dragon (great Mega Drive version), which I didn't think it was. I also preferred Final Fight, although of course it wasn't 2-player on the SNES. Streets of Rage 2 was very good though.

  18. Posted

    I'm still enjoying Final fantasy III. I'm at the bit where: [spoiler=]I'm at the warring kingdom and it basically recommends you change into dragoons.

     

     

    I go a few days without playing it, but enjoy it when I do. The job system does require a lot of thought, strategy and experimentation, but I'm not annoyed with it yet. The whole game feels more "pleasing" to me than FFXII, anyway.

     

    This is a bit odd, but did anyone else find this game more eye-straining than other DS games? Maybe it's just me, but the low-res 3D graphics seem to strain my eyes somewhat.

     

    PS - Personally, I feel the ideal system for an RPG is to have four set characters (I dislike having to switch characters in order to level them up equally). Also, I do agree it's ideal to have each character a specialist in something that you can't change. Dragon Quest VIII gets all this just right. RPGs are about choice, but I think the best ones take away a lot of the choice, strange as it may sound.

  20. Posted

    I love the Micro and I've got medium/large hands. It may be small, but it fills your hand nicely, unlike the thin rectangle that is the DS Lite. The ergonomics of it are brilliant and the screen is top class.

     

    As for Zelda: Four Swords Adventure, it's brilliant! I only played it single player, as I never bought a GBA SP (and only knew one person with one), but it didn't detract from my enjoyment at all. Visually, it's the pinnacle of 2D Zelda, with beautiful level design, loads of effects and no "SNES slowdown" (thanks to the GameCube's CPU). I really do prefer it to Link to the Past now, or any of the other 2D Zeldas really.

  22. Posted

    I'm sure I remember Bill Murray on Wogan in the 1980s saying something along the lines of "Ghostbusters 3 is on the way"! Mind you, he's right about Ghostbusters 2 in that there were only a few great scenes.

     

    Why oh why, though, do we have to have new actors? I like Steve Carell and I don't know who the others are (apart from Chris Rock), but I see no reason whatsoever why the original actors couldn't carry the film.

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