Grazza

This is the only bit I strongly disagree with. There's no point me saying that care and attention didn't go into Rayman Legends, because of course it did. But it really must not be considered an insult if gamers are more interested in a fully-rebuilt, HD remake of one of the best games of all time, frankly. That's not brand loyality, it's just people prioritising what most excites them.

Oh, absolutely - I am pro-variety. I have only "made" one Paladin. Will make a Great Knight (Kyle) and a General (Amelia) with the others. I suppose Forde and Gilliam will have to lose out, unless I buy more Knight Crests. Looking forward to making Gerik a Hero (have got the Hero Crest now, I just have to wait until he's Level 20) and Garcia a Warrior if I get another one. As I say, Ross is a Berserker in my game and I'm very happy with that, although I found out in Chapter 10 that his magic defence isn't that good! Used Vanessa to beat the boss. By the way, is there a way to level-up the healers other than by healing (I know dodging attacks gives some EXP, but not much)? I haven't promoted any of my magic users, healers or otherwise, as they are so low level.

Yes, absolutely. That's what I buy home consoles for - 3D movement, 3D worlds, exploration. Handhelds are different, but that's what excites me with home consoles. And when I said it was beautifully-done, I didn't necessarily mean visually (although I still give Wind Waker HD the edge over Rayman Legends). I meant so much care has gone into building Windfall Island as well as shading it, colouring it etc. My intention is not to criticise Rayman, but to point out that there are good reasons to assume Nintendo's Autumn/Winter output will be something to be reckoned with.

I think people want to play Wind Waker HD so much because it is looking like a beautifully-done 3D game, regardless of the fact it's a remake (although it doesn't hurt that we know it's a great game). I'm sure people would give a non-Zelda/non-remake just as much of a chance if it looked as "major".

The remake looks so slick, I keep forgetting DQ VII is really the last of the "2D" Dragon Quests, eg. no skill trees. VIII was my first, so I've never known exactly how much was new with that. Funnily enough, VI is the 2D Dragon Quest I have played the most (not counting IX), maxing-out all the vocations!

The Ice Demon is definitely a massive difficulty spike, as they just dont want to give you decent ice protection at that point. I think the only easy way would be if all of your Denpa Men were light blue. Even then I don't think it would be that easy.

Exactly. I hope they haven't fired him/her. Typical modern business - thinking how you say something matters more than what you do.

I'm definitely going to make Kyle a Great Knight (if I get the appropriate Crest). Kyle just seems like he should be a Great Knight, whereas Franz and Forde seem like they should be Paladins. I'd rather have two Paladins (Seth is the other, of course) and two Great Knights, but I can't help taking their characters into account (proof it's a good game, I suppose). @\-Dem0\- I think you had the right instincts using Gilliam to protect Natasha. Even though it's ungentlemanly, it's probably better to send Natasha up ahead (to Joshua), as long as you're taking care of the other enemies, of course.

This game has Psyche Up? (Rushes to finish Etrian Odyssey II and buy that PS3...!)

My workmate did ask me if that's what the console was about (playing games on the screen) and I had to explain that it is the case with some games, but not others.

Yes, that's exactly what it comes down to. Too much faith in Nintendo Land and the general "asymmetric gameplay" feature. True story: I was talking to my workmate last night, really nice bloke. He was raving on about how good Ocarina of Time, Goldeneye 64 and Metroid Prime were, but he stopped playing Nintendo after that (same with every gamer I know in real life). I was telling him about the Wii U and after a while the conversation went like this: Him: "When's it out?" Me: "Which game?" Him: "No, the Wii U." Sad but true.

Delays anger people when they suspect there is an ulterior motive. There is nothing wrong with a game taking a long time to make (as with Nintendo's 3DS titles), but it becomes a problem when there are other reasons for the delay. Worst of all is when the delay is so a game can be made available on multiple formats with different capabilities and controllers. Though it is a fine game, I cannot shake the annoyance that Twilight Princess was delayed for the Wii and that the GameCube version does not have all the functionality it was once meant to, such as shield control. Withholding a finished game is an enormous insult as it is like saying to gamers "You're not allowed your version until the other ones are ready".

Consoles are worth buying at launch if: a) There are enough launch games you want, or just one you really want b) There are enough functions built into the console to keep you using it I don't think Wii U is lacking for not having more games yet - after all, it's only been out for two or three months. I remember even the Megadrive relied on that early wave of games - Revenge of Shinobi, Altered Beast, Castle of Illusion etc. Maybe I'm the only one but I don't regret buying the 3DS at launch whatsoever, but then it had StreetPass, Play Coins, Photos etc. For whatever reason, that handheld felt brilliant to own from Day 1 (the games really weren't bad either). With the Wii U, Nintendo has done fairly well to set up Miiverse, but I don't think consoles have the same advantages as handhelds. Whilst I used to carry my 3DS everywhere with me, I only turn on a console when I want to play a proper game. The one thing Nintendo really could do to boost the Wii U would be to get the Virtual Console up and running. All their own SNES games (I understand 3rd-party is a more complex issue), upscaled and 60Hz - would make a big difference.

It's good to have a General Gaming Discussion, as there could be so many threads that don't fit in any other category. That's really well thought-out. Personally, I would have kept Nintendo handhelds and Nintendo consoles separate. It's not as though they were two warring communities and, to my mind, it's taking minimalism too far to merge them. Don't get me wrong though, it's no big deal and, what with Nintendo merging their console and handheld divisions, maybe you've prepared well for the future.

Very unusual for a non-metal enemy to run away during battle! So, when you're in your starting class, do you have the option to put skill points into different weapons, or do you have to wait until you revocate? Are Spears and Swords available early on?

You couldn't make it up. This is the only game playable on the demo units, right? I've seen groups playing this in GAME, using the GamePad and the Wii Remote together. It is arguably the game being used to sell the Wii U. Now it's being delayed for machines that don't have the same functionality. Incidently, this is exactly why I was annoyed at what happened with Twilight Princess. The finished game did not have the same functionality it was meant to. You just can't do that when a game is designed for one controller and then adapted for a very different one. It's OK when it's done later like Metroid Prime Trilogy and the "New Play Control" series, but not when it's done as part of a delay. Personally, I find the Rayman games look much better than they play (give me New Super Mario Bros any day), but that's not the point.

I'm pretty sure I played a Super Mario Bros coin-op in a British seaside arcade. Whether it was just the NES version, I don't know, but it certainly wasn't one of those "Select a NES game" machines. Now F-Zero AX, I definitely played... and only avoided the barriers for about 10 seconds of my play time!

The overworld camera sounds good, to my mind. Can you go into 1st-person mode at all? I love checking out the interiors of buildings.

I'm not a jealous person, but I'll make an exception over this!

Just to defend Nintendo a bit, why wouldn't they make a new Zelda? Mario and Zelda are two of their best ideas - there's no reason to let go of them. Mario is the character they use for action/platforming. Link is the character they use for adventure. If they invented a completely new platform game, it wouldn't be better for not having Mario in it. Same with Zelda. Yes, I would like more games of that calibre, but their resources are limited. They only make a few big budget games - 3D Mario, Zelda, Metroid/whatever Retro Studios is working on and whatever Monolith Soft is working on. Now personally I would stop making things like Wii Fit and Wii Sports so they can have more teams making "big" games, but that's just me. I'd agree that Zelda hasn't been at its best for a long time (some say Majora's Mask was the last great one, I say Wind Waker - either way, it's a long time ago), but I don't think they're stifled by using the same character (Link). He's not even meant to be a "character" as such. Zelda has been on very similar hardware for the last three games. If the next one's not good, I'll change my opinion, but until then I think it has as much potential to be great as ever.

Haha, I didn't want one anyway, but if it's always online and can't play 2nd-hand games, I won't even give it a 2nd look.

Quite. Once you've explored Argonia Castle (Dragon Quest VIII), gone into 1st-person mode and inspected the chandeliers on the ceiling, climbed up to the battlements and looked down at the village etc, you realise how much you need processing power. Still, it should be enough that it entered at No.1. Just goes to show when there's something really special, word will get round.

Quite enjoying it now. I'm using: Landsknecht - because you need some attack Dark Hunter - for her binds + Climax Survivalist - because I want Ambush + Sagacity (plus Chop/Mine/Take) Alchemist - brought him back because I'm the type who likes to get all the elemental/conditional drops Medic - seems the best healer at the moment So, I'm pretty satisfied with that. As much as I'd like to use a Protector, his attack is not much good and he no longer has any really good moves. Maybe I'll need him for the dragons, but we'll see. This team is working for me now and making me enjoy the game more.

I'll never forget when I got a Megadrive. I was an early teenager and had wanted the Master System, but we couldn't afford it. When I saw the Megadrive though, I was blown away and absolutely desperate for it. I remember seeing it in the Argos catalogue. 16-BIT! Arcade quality! And that sleek, curvy design! I begged for one, promising "I would never be bored" if I had one. No console will ever compare to how excited I felt at getting a Megadrive. My neighbour also got one, and so I swapped games with her. I had things like Altered Beast and Golden Axe. She had things like Sonic and Castle of Illusion. My schoolfriend also got one, and playing Streets of Rage (and Golden Axe) round his house was as good as multiplayer has ever been for me (he's an Xbox gamer now). And it was about the magazines just as much as the games. I used to buy Sega Pro. Reading that was like going into a different world, seeing all the forthcoming titles and Japanese releases. When I heard about the Mega CD, I can't really explain how good I thought it'd be. That's the thing I loved about Sega. There was always, always something to look forward to. They'd try everything: the Mega CD, the 32X, Virtual Reality... When there wasn't a new console or console add-on to anticipate, there was always a new coin-op. As an older teenager, I would visit arcades eager to see what the latest Sega coin-op was. Virtua Fighter was my favourite of the "Model 1" boards. I couldn't believe how good the graphics were - like there were little models in the screen. That was followed by Sega Rally (my favourite Model 2 game). Then a bit later on I found Daytona 2 and OutRun 2 both excellent. The Saturn was a sort of last hurrah for sprite games, with gems such as Story of Thor 2 and Guardian Heroes (which is still making its influence felt, in games like Code of Princess). To end on a positive note, I genuinely believe Sega could, in theory and thanks to digital distribution, recapture the glory days. If you look at what WayForward is doing, the quality they're achieving with their "Shantae" and "Mighty" series, imagine what Sega could do in a similar (2D) manner. If they really, really looked at the essence of, say, Wonder Boy or Golden Axe I think they could make some absolute stunners. On the 3D front, a return of Landstalker could honestly be a Zelda rival. It's all there to play for.

Yeah, it surprised me how much EXP you can get, just on the first floor of the Tower. Oh, got Ross and Garcia to "A", but not too many of the others. I want to max-out Joshua + Natasha, Franz + Gilliam (even though they have completely different manoeuvrability and are never near each other) and Eirika + Seth (despite the fact I don't use Seth!) Ah, I did wonder about that, but wasn't sure how to unequip anything (I know how to change weapons, just not unequip).