Grazza

I know how to activate them when they become available, I just don't know how to make them do so.

I agree. It worked well for Wind Waker because you could sail up to an island, get out of the boat, run around the island and then get back into the boat without any jarring transitions. What might count against Skyward Sword is if the areas that you can access from the sky are completely isolated from areas you can access on the ground. Still, I'm very hyped. After years of putting this to the back of my mind, I can't believe it's finally time for another console Zelda.

Argh, I really never have enjoyed Mario Kart, but this looks brilliant. I never liked my neighbour's SNES original, didn't like Double Dash and rudely sold my free copy of Mario Kart Wii, despite @darksnowman inviting me to play it online! Weapons-off would make all the difference to me, but I might buy it anyway.

Oh, I don't actually know how to do Chain attacks, I just like them. Still am, although I'm getting annoyed with the Alchemiracles, wasting my Orbs and Agates each time. It's a funny thought that I've not really got anything more to do in DQIX, apart from the odd tinker for old time's sake. Funny you should mention DQIX though, because although I've got into Xenoblade, I still have this weird feeling of wanting to get it over and done with. I'm not doing many Quests or exploring thoroughly. I just want to see the story and then... bring on Skyward Sword!

I haven't played an Animal Crossing since the one on the GameCube, but I'm interested in this just because it's on the 3DS. The machine has such good connectivity - StreetPass, SpotPass and even the internet works fine, which I think translates into a lot of potential. The only thing that'd put me off would be if you still had to keep the villagers happy by writing letters and going to see them. It got to the point where I thought to myself "Why am I writing letters to ducks?" and I never touched it again!

Final Fantasy III was incredibly charming with a great job system. If this was anything like that, I'd be pleased.

The biggest problem I have is deciding what to do and what to keep. Hoovering and laundry is simple - when it needs doing, it needs doing. But no, I have trouble with things like "Am I ever going to read that book?" or "Do I really need a CD player, a DVD player and a games console?" type of thing.

I must say, whilst I was once not very keen on this, I'm now very much looking forward to it. I will buy Skyward Sword on release and put Mario 3D Land on my Christmas List. After all, it is Zelda! Any gaming time I have that fortnight is strictly reserved for Hyrule.

This is a Day 1 buy if it's released over here.

Ah, after four hours, I finally "get" this game. I like it. The bit where I started to learn how to play properly was this section: [spoiler=]The Mechon in Colony 9 I started to learn what the special moves do, eg. I'd apply Break, then Topple, then attack with Side Slash or Back Slash. I've even started pulling off Chains, which are awesome. I'm also improving my Arts to focus on Break and Topple at the moment. So, thanks to everyone who encouraged me to persevere, because I honestly was finding it a struggle.

They're my favourite band/duo. I don't know if it's the rhythm, the lyrics or what, but they've just got the funk. Once someone at work was playing the album that accompanies Season One, so I poked my head in and gave him the thumbs-up. He agreed that the songs just get in your head like nothing else. Season Two has got some great songs, so you can certainly look forward to that, Dog-amoto. I suppose it's just that Season One felt like more of a "project", as they'd already written a lot of the songs and found ways to incorporate (and improve) them. My favourite song from Season One is Bret You Got it Goin' On. It's just so soulful, so beautiful and I dare say sincere. The rhythm might be the best and most funky I've ever heard. My other favourites are The Most Beautiful Girl in the Room, Think About It and Ladies of the World. I won't tell you my favourite songs from Season Two yet. Oh boy, you're in for some good ones! Worth mentioning is their pre-TV stuff, such as the Folk the World tour. This is a bittersweet song from it. Give it a few listens and it really gets in your head. Again, it's all down to the brilliant rhythm and lyrics: Hope you enjoy the DVDs.

I very much agree. My biggest complaint about the 3DS was that it in some ways felt like a step-down from the DSi XL (which I've kept just to play Dragon Quest). Take the screen: only the resolution is better. The XL beats it for size and brightness. So, I'd love a 3DS with a 5" top screen. I say 5" to match the Vita, plus to compensate for the fact it's widescreen. It's even possible the resolution could be increased for web browsing. The lower screen could say the same size (as odd as that sounds), thus giving extra room on the lower half for the extra Slide Pad. Strictly speaking, I don't think it needed one either (considering no handheld at that point had ever had two). Now the peripheral exists though, I think it's best to establish it as part of the system.

Same here - I've noticed it's becoming something of an object of desire, and quite rightly too. Nintendo deserves success with the 3DS. It's a great machine, and has been since launch day. OK, it's not perfect, but it doesn't even remotely deserve to flop. Graphics and processing abilities are much better than the DS, as are the controls. It's a shame they've fumbled with the whole "two Slide Pads" thing, but it is just a fumble, not a disaster. Then there are the games. Here is a machine that you can play gorgeous versions of Pilotwings, Ocarina of Time, DOA Dimensions, Street Fighter IV and Star Fox 64 on, as well as forthcoming games like Mario Land, Mario Kart, Metal Gear Solid 3, as well as others. I still genuinely think that's the best first-year line-up I've seen.

Cor, I really fancy an Etrian Odyssey on 3DS. Just the thought of exploring a new forest and taking items back to the village blacksmith has me drooling.

Wow, that's unbelievable. You can really use the internet in this way? It's like something out of science-fiction. Thanks very much, I'll have to investigate this. At the end of the day, if any series was going to tempt me into online gaming, it was going to be Dragon Quest. I knew that. Let's hope it shows me how great it can be.

Great news, I've always wanted to play a Monster Hunter, but only on a handheld (and I didn't have a PSP), so this will be my first.

Am I right in thinking you don't have to return to the people who give you quests? You get the reward anyway? That's another thing that was confusing me. Like Burny says, probably an example of Functional Fixedness. Oh I see. Thought I was really poor not being able to do that. I noticed you can approach it from two directions. My strategy was to lure the small ones away, then attack the big one. Anyway, you have all inspired me to have a few more goes, so thanks.

I think it's the first story mission. We had to go into a cave and fight a monster (sort of a grub with smaller ones around it). Our Tension is very low, so I don't know whether I'm meant to focus on that, focus on curing the status effects or what. It's all very confusing. Anyway, I kept failing, just kept going through the cave again and again until we were at Level 10. I had to grind because I hadn't fought anything else (nothing had attacked me). Yes, I know it's only a game, but it doesn't feel right to just attack innocent creatures! So, already this was more grinding than I've done at the beginning of any other RPG. Add to that the fact I had got very bored spending hours finding my way around the city. I'll probably try it again. I get the feeling I must be playing it wrong.

I wasn't going to post in this thread, but Burny asked me why I don't like this game. Well, I'm afraid despite playing it quite a few times I just can't get into it at all. I won't nitpick about the story, characters or tone. It is what it is. The main problem I'm having is with the real-time combat. For me, real-time combat just doesn't go hand-in-hand with having a team/party. With turn-based combat, you have time to browse through the menus - a fair trade, I think, for having to control everyone - yet in this there is not enough time to. It becomes a case of waiting until everyone is a high-enough level to bash everything into submission. Maybe there is strategy to be had if you have quicker reactions. Unfortunately, I don't. The other thing that put me off was the size of the first town. Yes, I have argued for large overworlds, but not cluttered ones. I meant things like having huge open spaces and fields if that fits the design. This town took ages to run round, accepting quests etc. It's not like you can go in the buildings at your leisure, or that they are designed in an interesting way (like the Bomb Shop on Windfall Island in Wind Waker). If I've argued for better towns, I meant things like how you can go in the castles in Dragon Quest, and how they're incoporated into the area design. The towns in this are much more like, say, Final Fantasy XII. Anyway, I know you're all enjoying this, but Burny wanted to know.

I've got a constant Ethernet connection, but not somewhere I could play the Wii. I just don't fancy/can't imagine playing a whole game over Wi-Fi. Without getting into too many details, if I am to play this, I'll have to make a few changes to my Wi-Fi set-up, or (ideally) get a 2nd Ethernet/Fibre-Optic port (which is something I hope the Wii U can connect to, incidentally). I sure hope it's worth it! Thanks for cheering me up.

I've got it. I don't like it.

There can only be one winner: "The Legend of Zelda 2004"!

That's the difference between publishers and developers. Developers are still capable of creating great games, but the publishers limit what they can achieve (by putting the games on weaker consoles, for instance, or making them MMOs). It doesn't sound like you've played Dragon Quest VIII. If you think the characters are androgynous, you haven't seen Jessica do a Puff-Puff!

OK, I've watched the trailer and all the gameplay footage. Yesterday it was a lot to take in and I was excited. Today, however, I'm much more sceptical. I'm not angry, just disappointed really about what has become of the games industry. Now there are reports that Dragon Quest X will need an internet connection for most of the game. If this is the case, I simply will not play it. This isn't a threat, I just simply will not buy the game, which is a shame considering Dragon Quest had become my favourite series. When I finished Dragon Quest VIII, I was blown away by how much it touched my soul. All I wanted for a sequel was for it to be as good, and in HD. It was very unlikely they could better it, but they could have at least tried. With Level 5 at the time, you had probably the most talented RPG team that had ever existed. To not give them the PS3 to work on, and try to create a Dragon Quest with an ounce as much spirit as VIII was a missed opportunity on a huge scale. I was against the series being put onto the DS. However, IX turned out very well. I'd rather consider it Dragon Quest Portable (a series which I'd like more of) than IX, but it was still a great game. The consolation was that the real series was continuing on consoles. The Wii wasn't my first choice of console, but it at least had a chance of being as good as VIII, even if there wasn't any real chance of it being better. So, we were promised a game more like VIII. It seems, though, that Dragon Quest X is way too online-focused. There is very little chance the characters, story or combat will be as good as VIII. Even so, I would still have bought it if it didn't need an internet connection. Instead, I will buy a PS3 + Ni No Kuni and and just dream about what DQX could have been, hoping that Square Enix see sense and get Level 5 to make Dragon Quest XI for the PS4. One day, I may finally play a game that enchants me as much as DQ VIII, but I fear that will be decades away.

From Hero of Time's info: Good stuff. I'd say IX was just about the best, gameplay-wise. I'm still playing it and haven't found a game I like as much since. This actually sounds far less tactical. It sounds real-time, like Xenoblade or Final Fantasy XII, neither of which I like very much. When you are controlling a whole party, turn-based for everyone is the only way to go. There's no way you can control everyone in real-time (or the computer do it, like this) without losing strategy. Still, as long as there is not a time limit for my actions, I'm not too bothered. Hope they go through with this. I agree. Not as good as VIII, so let's hope it gets a real boost on the Wii U: Wasn't expecting this until tonight. Anyway, this is great news, it's made my day. Just the thought that I can play this in HD with traditional controls has really set my mind at ease. HD is the main thing for me, because anything with menus looks very blurry to me on my SD TV. I do agree with Sheikah, but this has been in development for so long on Wii, I have resigned myself to a Wii-level design. Dragon Quest VIII looks vastly better than Xenoblade to me, so if they can get DQX looking as good as that, but in HD, I'll be very happy indeed. If this is released in Europe on Wii, I'll get it, but I'd be happy if it's only released on Wii U. I guarantee I'll have the Wii U and HDTV ready just for this!