Grazza

@Ike Etrian Odyssey I, II & III arrived today! (I'm not going to play the first one again, but it was a pack.) I was going to take a photo of them, but my camera has broken, so I sent a low-res one on Letterbox instead. Am currently having a browse through the instruction manual before playing. See you in the labyrinth!

Interesting to see @Fused King has played through this (Fire Emblem 8). I will have to read the whole thread. Anyway, I have completed Chapter 9, so I am getting to grips with this. It's probably not as hard as I thought, it just has a very steep learning curve if you're not into strategy RPGs. In fact, it might not even have a steep learning curve, but there's a lot to learn. Impatiently, I upgraded Franz into a Paladin and Vanessa into a Falcoknight as soon as I could. Franz is powerful, but Vanessa's defence is much weaker than I expected (I used the Dragonshield on her too). I do like this game, but what I like even more than the gameplay is the tone. "Swords, knights & dragons" is just my thing and the character designs are fantastic. I particularly like the heavy-armoured Knights and Generals, the horse-riding Great Knights and Paladins, axe-wielding Warriors and Beserkers and the ones with the winged mounts, ie. Falcoknight, Wyvern Knight and Wyvern Lord.

They don't want to offend that one, out-of-the-way shop that has a copy tucked away in a corner with an optimistic "£49.99" sticker on it.

With GameCube games, I mostly hoped for the same games, just as good as they look through Dolphin. Wind Waker HD is a very nice bonus, but I would have been just as (or maybe almost as) excited by the "Dolphin" version running on Wii U. It's funny, I generally think NES and N64 games benefit from remakes more than SNES and GameCube, ie. the "revolution" consoles rather than the "evolution" ones. Like GameCube, all I want from SNES games is for them to run smoothly and be upscaled to HD. At the risk of being unimaginative, the one HD remake I'd really like to see would be Ocarina of Time (and then Majora's Mask). They really nailed the visual style with the 3DS remake. Now imagine that running in 1080p at 60fps, with high-res textures and, yes, rumble!!

Nintendolife is trying to get Princess Crown remade for the 3DS. It's a Japanese Sega Saturn game, and an early Vanillaware title like Muramasa or Dragon's Crown. This is exactly the sort of thing I'd have loved back in the '90s, if only it had left Japan - the sprites are gorgeous. Anyway, I just thought it was a worthy venture: http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/01/remake_request_princess_crown

Once I was told I looked like "The first Doctor Who" (he meant Christopher Eccleston) and many times I'm told I look like Prince William.

Ah, wow, thanks for the reminder. It just goes to show how important it was to the GameCube. I can't believe they'd go back to traditional controls but leave out something as important as analogue triggers.

Widescreen was a bit pointless before HD (just my opinion), as you only got extra resolution one way but not the other. Even though I had a widescreen TV, I preferred 4:3. OOT 3D is great, but I really missed rumble! It's such an important part of the game, which I didn't even realise when I played the N64 original (without the Rumble Pak). The GameCube version was a revelation, finding all the secrets. None of that would stop me buying Majora's Mask 3D though. Oh, I agree. Getting the full GameCube line-up on there (with a controller that could play them) should have been one of their earliest priorities.

I hope so, but you can never be sure. Come to think of it, the GameCube version is 60Hz too. Rumble, 60Hz... the GC just got everything right.

I know Tesco suddenly started stocking it (and definitely didn't have it on release). Maybe some other shops did too.

Nintendo have a very difficult decision on their hands. If they don't cel-shade this, it's definitely going to lose some of that deep-blue sea, glowing-white-eyed magic from the original. If they do, they'll lose the subtlety they've achieved in these screenshots, like the reefs and the nuanced shading. I genuinely don't think GameCube will come to Virtual Console, especially now I've seen this. Wind Waker is considered the No.1 GC title by many, and lots of the others use the analogue triggers. The main Nintendo one that doesn't is Metroid Prime and, as much as I'd rather play an HD version of the GameCube original, Nintendo will probably think "They can play the Wii version" (like Twilight Princess). I don't think this is a good thing, it's just my prediction. As for Ocarina of Time, I've still got my bonus disc version. That's the best release of it so far, isn't it? It's higher-res than the N64 original and (unlike the Virtual Console edition - correct me if I'm wrong), it has rumble. That's a point - we don't even know if they can do rumble on the VC yet.

Is that the case in Xenoblade? It is with a certain boss in one of the Dragon Quests (IV or V, I can't remember which).

It's like the 3DS. I'm lucky enough to have both the original and the XL. Whilst I will always play the XL at home, the original is far more portable and feels more special to carry around with me, but because I've transferred my content over, there's not much I can do with it now (apart from use its mains adaptor! ) I don't understand why I'm not allowed to access my content on both. You may say I shouldn't have done a system transfer, but I do use my XL the vast majority of the time. It'd just be nice to keep using my original with it as well.

I love them. If you find one too difficult, then maybe that particular boss is just not that well-designed? I agree about the Metroid Prime - it sort of ruined the game for me, but then I came back years later and beat it. To me, though, Spider Guardian on GameCube is the worst/hardest Metroid boss. At the risk of mentioning Super Mario Galaxy's Star 242 again, that's my least favourite moment in a game. The difficulty was too high and yet it wasn't a boss fight. It's all to do with how the developers balance a section, whether it's a boss fight or not. To me, Skyward Sword's bosses were a line-up of two halves. I disliked the swordfighting ones, but Koloktos was so good it even made me like motion control for a moment! And 2D Metroid wouldn't be the same without dodging a massive boss, choosing your moment and firing off loads of missiles. So yeah, sorry, but boss fights are great and should be here to stay, as long as they're well-designed!

Yes, I did like that. My general feeling about WW/TP/SS is that none of them built on each other. WW built upon OOT, but the three GameCube/Wii games are so very different. Mainly, I'd like them to build upon Wind Waker, but Twilight Princess had a thing or two to teach about environments and Skyward Sword had great NPCs and, as you say, an upgrade system. I loved using the Darknuts' swords in Wind Waker, and climbing onto the hogs in Twilight Princess. It's a long-time fantasy of mine to have a Zelda with lots of non-mandatory things to play with. Eg. You can pick up not only enemies' swords, but all sorts of weapons. You can operate battle stations and turn them against the enemy. And you'd be able to ride hogs, dragons, griffins etc when you'd knocked the enemy off them.

Can't remember if I was 8 or 10, I just know my friend told me about it and I just thought "Really?" I knew where babies came from, I just didn't know how they got there in the first place. Didn't really freak me out or anything, I just thought it was a bit surprising.

I've done Chapter 5 and 5x now. Are there any Fire Emblem games where you can train outside of chapters? It seems a bit odd that you can get stuck if you haven't levelled-up the right people. Whilst I don't want to derail this thread, there is an arena in Chapter 5, yet I wasn't strong enough to even win the first battle at the time. I'd like to go back, but I can't. I do quite like it, but it's very complex.

I can see a time where he doesn't look like the Link we all know (although that would be very controversial), but I think it will still be one character. Link is just the person every generation who is awarded the Tri-Force of Courage. Ever since Wind Waker, I've thought if it as like Blackadder. ... Now as for Ocarina of Time, I think @The\-chosen\-one made some excellent points about it. I don't think it's the best Zelda game, but I think it deserves its reputation as one of the top tier Zeldas. Just to explain, Link to the Past was my first Zelda, and I thought every subsequent one was better up to and including Wind Waker. When I replayed OOT after WW I remember thinking "This is still a contender for the top spot. I don't like it as much as Wind Waker overall, but there are a few bits it could teach it". It's all to do with design. Just making a game with better graphics doesn't work if the design is not as good. Take Lon Lon Ranch, for example. The way that sits in the middle of the field speaks to you, subconsciously. It's an oasis of calm. When you are through the gates, you feel like you are getting an insight into a family business, with the father, daughter and dodgy worker! You meet what is to become your steed and your most loyal friend. Going up the mountain to meet the Gorons actually feels like climbing to a significant height. Lake Hylia feels like somewhere out of the way, where a scientist is doing his experiments. All this stuff was designed this way for a reason. Now as for items, I've been accused before of wanting "every game to be the same", but the truth is, items were designed to enable valid gameplay ideas. The Hookshot has been brilliant since Link to the Past, letting you get to distant targets, so of course it's in most Zeldas. Power Gauntlets allow you to get into holes you couldn't previously. The Mirror Shield lets you deflect light. Fire Arrows allow you to light torches, even if they're not within reach. The Biggoron Sword allowed you to increase your attack if you were willing to sacrifice defence. Cuckoos (and in later games, the Deku Leaf), allow you to glide from up high. It's one reason Kakariko Village was by far the best town in Twilight Princess. I very much disagree with people saying Zelda has become stale and shouldn't use the same items and ideas over and over again. Because it should remember its best bits, and why they were invented in the first place.

That's embarrassing, I'm stuck on Chapter 5 of that. I'm enjoying it, but they are quite complicated. Even so, I've learned a few things about the series: Swords beat axes Axes beat lances (I imagine an axe knocking it out of the way) Lances beat swords Then there are things like "Support Conversations", where if you place certain characters next to each other for enough turns, they can develop friendships. There is so much strategy to it. What throws me is when bandits appear and destroy a house/village. I have to restart the chapter. Even so, I like the game and I think it's a series I'll get into.

Aw, SPD 1 (Sakamoto) is working on Tomodachi Collection 2 and Game & Wario? We want a 2D Metroid!

I don't actually separate anyone, but they all play different roles: Online friends - Mostly people I met when I was obsessed with roller coasters. These have been very loyal over the years (eg. on Facebook), actually, as they still don't know how bad my personality is. I think I had a better one in those days. School friends - The people who realised I was a weirdo many years ago. I don't actually arrange social activities with them any more, but it's great to bump into them. It feels very natural and relaxed, same goes for the ones I still talk to on the internet. Workmates - These are the people I actually socialise with at the moment, although they don't really comment on my stuff on Facebook. They invite me to parties and such, but I think I'm getting on their nerves at the moment! ...Plus a few people from the gym. So yeah, whilst I'm not too shy and I hope I'm pleasant company, I'm not really a party animal or a hugely social creature.

Good advice by Hero-of-Time. If three routers aren't enough to get you what you want, just scan some QR codes and leave them in the Denpa House until you need them.

Come on Rummy, all I'm saying is that it got a lot right. If we fail to acknowledge the good bits, the series will fluctuate wildly in all sorts of areas. I agree that Zeldas should be held up to high standards, but TP and Skyward Sword didn't fall short by equal amounts. TP is significantly better. It's not like Twilight Princess hasn't received any flak over the years!

If I'm feeling too intense I go for a walk - as long a walk as I need to calm down. On the very rare occasion when someone's annoyed me directly I'll just give them a piece of my mind, and that's the end of it.

Yeah, but I think it'd be better if they were CPU-controlled. Very true. I'd love to be up one mountain, and to have views of other ones in the distance, but also to be able to glide down to parts of the overworld with my Deku Leaf.