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Grazza

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Posts posted by Grazza

  1. Posted · Edited by Grazza

    12 minutes ago, RedShell said:

    I would be really annoyed by this "stealth" Switch revision if I used the console primarily as a portable device, I mean that battery life increase is pretty substantial! :o

    Wonder if this new version will have reduced fan noise too. :hmm: That's something I've started to notice more often (especially during docked play) with certain games on the original hardware.

     

    That describes me, but I'm honestly pretty chilled about it.  The Switch's battery life is pretty terrible with 3D games, especially if the lighting is poorly designed and you have to turn the brightness up (which doesn't apply to Nintendo's own games, I must say).  It's just that I've had so much entertainment from the Switch, sometimes you have to go with the flow.

     

    One thing's for sure: the best time to buy a console is when new hardware is released, whether that's on launch day or when a revised model is made available.  I wouldn't buy one 12 months after release, for example.

  2. Posted

    25 minutes ago, S.C.G said:

    Great minds Grazza, great minds. ;)

    But yes, essentially I think it's more or less agiven that Nintendo will keep the Switch as their business model for the forseeable future.

    I certainly hope so, after building up a substantial physical Switch collection.

     

    I'm similar, but with downloads.  I've treated the Switch as a way to collect the real versions of my childhood favourites - Double Dragon, Final Fight - and various other arcade games.  Combined with various indie titles, I've downloaded far more games than on any previous console.

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  4. Posted

    2 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

    I rate the original Xbox purely for its online. Playing both Halo 2 and Star Wars Battlefront online, as well as Phantasy Star Online with added voice chat, were great experiences. 

    Saying that, the console did have some great games on it though. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Kung Fu Chaos, WWF RAW, Spikeout, Knights of the Old Republic, Splinter Cell, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Amped, Sega GT, Jet Set Radio Future, to name a few. Plus, it was the first console to allow Championship Manager to be played due to having a hard drive. Me and my mates spent countless hours playing that. Man, I miss those days. :( 

     

    Thinking about it, that was the only generation where I (eventually) had all four consoles: the Dreamcast in the beginning because I was a Sega fan, the GameCube because I was also a Nintendo fan, the PS2 because it had Dragon Quest and the Xbox because I wanted to own OutRun 2.  A truly great generation.

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  5. Posted

    10 minutes ago, Aneres11 said:

    I have a quick question for anyone kind enough to help: 

    I'm making my first level ever (it's a lot of fun!) But I want a section in my level where there's a warp pipe that takes you to a different "room" with a warp pipe that takes you then back out. 

    I've added the room and completed its layout, but the creator is asking me for a second pipe which, again, I've added to take me out of it but it then needs a fourth pipe to come out from. 

    So what I want to know is, can I have one pipe on my main level to go into the second room with, (which needs a second pipe in the room for Mario to come out of) and then a third pipe to exit from which brings you back out of the original pipe you entered from. So three in total?

    I've fiddled with options but the creator let's Mario go back out the way he came in, which I don't want really. I want the user to have to get out of the room by going up the course to a different pipe. 

    Hope I make sense... Can't wait to share it once it's done!

     

    I don't think you can do that, no.  Every pipe from the main area must link to one in the sub-area, and vice versa.  If I've understood correctly you want the player to enter Pipe 1, which has you emerge from Pipe 2 in the sub-area?  You then want them to have to reach Pipe 3, and emerge from Pipe 1 again?  As I say, I don't think that's possible, but don't forget you can have pipes pointing up, down, left or right.  If you want Mario to emerge in the same place, but from a pipe he can't reach initially, the best compromise might be to have Pipe 4 directly above Pipe 1, but pointing downwards and too high to reach first of all.  It will drop Mario back where he started.

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  6. Posted · Edited by Grazza

    3 hours ago, GenericAperson said:

    OK, so I am trying to redevelop the Beetle Drop level from scratch to reduce the harshness in punishment. In order to do so I decided to use doors as a reset mechanic and replace the floor trap pits with giant spinies that you can't avoid if you fail. However, there is one problem with the doors mechanic, the question mark block doesn't reset if you reload the room without dying.

     

    The entire puzzles are now just one screen puzzles which is what they should have been all along really. I would appreciate anyone's help to try and figure out how to do this.

     

    EDIT: Never mind, it was just a question of changing the question mark block to a brick block that doesn't break when small Mario touches it.

     

    I'm sorry I can't play your level yet, as I don't have the online subscription.  More generally, with anything you want to respawn, can you not have it come out of a pipe instead?  I'm new to this series myself, but most of the things I want to supply the player with, I can have emerge from a pipe.  If they waste it, the pipe gives them another one.  Maybe this doesn't work with whatever you want to come out of the question mark block, but it's just a thought.

  7. Posted

    13 hours ago, Esequiel said:

    Hi Grazza - dunk a couple of hours into it and it a decent enough game but not on Rogue Legacy Level for me. I think it’s the fact that there is no progression, you get stronger in the level but all the progress is wiped out on the next level. Never mind! I’ll keep searching!

     

    Ah, sorry about that.  Thanks for giving it a go.

     

    But yes, unfortunately the only thing you get to keep is recipes.  After a while I completely ignored character level, as enemies seem to level with you.  The one thing I've always wanted is the ability to start the game with certain special items - five or even six Dragon Scales so I can make all the Dragon Armour and Dragon weapons, or imbue other weapons with a Dragon Stone.  It's annoying when you want something in particular but can't get it.

     

    Again, thanks for giving it a try.

  8. Posted

    14 hours ago, Esequiel said:

    Thanks Jonnas, Drakhon and Grazza, I think I’ll try Alchemic Dungeons, looks up my street!

     

    We should start a thread for it if you like it.  I can talk you through all the different crafting combinations, which ones are my favourite etc.

     

    I should say I reviewed the 3DS version.  Comparing it to DX, it's really evident how much they improved the quality of items you get and made it much fairer.

  10. Posted

    If we're including top-down roguelikes, don't overlook Alchemic Dungeons DX.  I get the feeling the developer, Q-Cumber Factory, is a seriously talented Japanese indie developer, but hasn't managed to publicise their games in the West so far.  A word of warning though - it is incredibly addictive!

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  12. Posted

    I've completed the first two and played a lot of the third one, but am afraid I can't contribute much as I simply can't remember a great deal about them.  I do know I quite liked the novelty of controlling just one character in the original game, and also liked the 2nd one enough to play all of it.  Whilst I played a lot of DQ III, I eventually gave up as I couldn't work out where to go on the map or what to do.  That's unlike me with Dragon Quest, but I just couldn't be bothered with it, possibly because I was tired of playing them on Android.

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  15. Posted

    Just to clarify, I'm not including Wonder Boy/Monster World style games, otherwise my winner might be Shantae and the Pirate's Curse.  Also, of the above list I have only played Axiom Verge, Cave Story, Hollow Knight, Steamworld Dig and Super Metroid.  That aside, my two favourites are:

     

    Metroid: Zero Mission

    Metroid Fusion

     

    There is something about those two (and they are two games I've always found hard to separate) that is so far above other Metroidvanias, even Super Metroid.  For me it's that they occupy the fine line between classic and modern, in that they are much evolved from the NES, SNES and Game Boy iterations, but not in the current era of 2.5D or HD, hand-drawn games either.  Neither has autosave, yet both are generous enough in terms of save rooms.  They're challenging, but probably won't frustrate you for days and days, and both keep the pace going with plenty of upgrades.  Speaking of which, they both get the balance right between telling a linear story and offering a decent amount of exploration.  To me, they are just the best, and designed in the kind of way I understand.

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  19. Posted

    These games are sheer magic, and what @RedShell has said about the graphics has made me appreciate it a bit more now.

     

    The only thing I'm mildly concerned about is the online.  3DS had free online, so it was easy to swap items, but I don't subscribe to the Switch online scheme and therefore hope it's not too hard to complete full furniture sets.

  20. Posted

    Nowadays, "open world" means a particularly enormous environment, arguably to the point of excess.  Unlike past Zelda games, there is no consideration given to how much optional content is made available to the player in proportion to the mandatory, narrative-driven quest.  There also tends to be an abundance of crafting, cooking and item collection, which is a world away from how the Zelda games traditionally made specific items available to you at certain times, eg. Mirror Shield halfway through one of the later dungeons.

     

    There was always exploration in Zelda, but there was also much more discipline in terms of how it fitted into the main game.

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  21. Posted

    Well, that was a pretty good show.  The format didn't waste any time, and they did what they could with the software that's available.

     

    Got goosebumps from the Dragon Quest Heroes in Smash Bros, even though I don't play it. :p Was also pleased to see Dragon Quest XI.  I know it's not a new announcement, but to know an immense game like that is coming makes my year anyway.

     

    Looks like there will be enough new stuff in Link's Awakening - worth doing those extra dungeons for spare bottles etc.  I was tempted by Collection of Mana until I saw the price.  £34.99! :o Saving my credit for the next two Sega Ages releases instead.

     

    As much as I'm not too keen on open world games, I will keep an eye on The Witcher III.  Looking forward to Animal Crossing as much as ever, although is it just me or did the graphics look a bit strange?  Perhaps a bit soft and undefined?  And Cadence of Hyrule is something I'd be interested in... if I had rhythm!

     

    As for Zelda, who knows what it'll be like, but it was certainly good to be there at the time they announced such a big game.

  22. Posted

    42 minutes ago, Kav said:

    I got some serious Twilight Princess vibes from that teaser, the colours & sounds were very much like those in the Twilight Realm!

     

    Ah, yes, I knew I'd heard those sounds before but couldn't quite place it.  Thought it might have been Metroid (before Link and Zelda appeared), then just assumed the sounds were from Breath of the Wild.

     

    Anyway, it goes without saying that it's too early to tell what the game will be like.  It could be more linear than BOTW, it could be just as open, or it could be the same landscape but with a much stronger plot threaded through it.  I do feel a bit sad that I no longer feel like I did as a 28-year-old looking forward to Twilight Princess - partly because of my age and partly because the Zelda series just doesn't have the same place in my heart since it's not so driven by Miyamoto and Aonuma, but there you go.

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