Grazza

Anarchy's not my thing. "British Jobs for British Workers" is not about racism (or xenophobia), it's about skilled workers wanting to earn a living in their own country. I'm not against immigrants who agree with this country's values and really want to make a go of it here. We're talking about "floating hotels" that are full of people only here to take the jobs. We've got to look after our own. Firstly, because this nation is built upon the hard work and taxes of our families and ancestors. Secondly, because we'll be in deep trouble the day most British people can't earn a living. We have the Welfare State now, but only because there are enough people who pay their taxes. If things got to extremes, people wouldn't be able to work and, with no other taxpayers, we'd literally starve. You say there's no such thing as Britain, but different nations do have different values. When Jews were driven out of Russia and then Germany, they fled to countries where they could have freedom, ie. Britain (and USA). The only reason we've been able to keep our freedom over the centuries is because we've always had a strong army, loyal to the monarch. I don't necessarily agree with the way they've been deployed since Labour got in power (blame Tony Blair and his three wars), but the idea of an armed forces whose priority is "Defence of the Realm" is a sound one. Yes, we are a world, which is why we try to have good relations with other countries. However, there are people who would kick us around at the first opportunity. The media don't invent this threat. By the way, the BBC isn't inherently racist. The right-wing newspapers are always accusing them of being left-wing, if anything. We're getting hysterical about racism, to the point of not caring about actual cruelty. I'm not so patriotic that I don't criticise Britain. In fact, I agree strongly with the idea of free speech and criticism. There are problems, but the basic template does work. To my mind, things have simply gone downhill an awful lot since 1997 when Labour got in, but that's politics.

The whole Metroid Prime trilogy is actually a side story, isn't it? I'm hoping this is a teaser for Metroid Dread or some sort of 2D game, although I'm not sure I want it on the DS.

With Oddworld, did you prefer the 1st or 2nd half of the game? I preferred the 1st half, as it was a real wild west, capture the outlaws type of game, whereas the 2nd half was a more traditional FPS.

Aw, thanks. I really hope you like it as much as me - hand on heart, I think it's brilliant. A couple of tips: 1) Don't sell your items unless you know exactly where you can buy more (you'll need them for alchemy), and 2) If you want to defeat Metal King Slimes (they give the most EXP) and defeat the Darksteel Dragon before Level 65, you'll need 59 skill points in "Spears" and 66 in "Axes". Quite honestly, I'd be happy to advise on anything! Yeah, I have to agree. Without bias for or against any machine or company, for the sake of the games, I'd much rather IX and/or X were on PS3/360. Still, X has a chance of being as good as VIII.

Brilliant! They should definitely just use the design from Smash Bros or, if they make him adult (which is fine), something with an equally cartoony flair.

Gargh! I've still not forgotten your "Onion Knight" jibe, which was most definitely not in my list of job classes! Seriously, I do like having to choose my own tactics, but I like my party to be able to do every spell and ability between them. Then I can strategize during battles without worrying about which ones I've taken in. I've been thinking about this, and I would definitely buy Dragon Quest IV again if it was remade to the same technical and graphical standard as DQVIII (on PS2 or better, naturally), so maybe I'm a "technical whore"! I need a certain level of immersion to be able to remember things and care about characters, towns etc. I haven't played it yet. Too busy with PS2 and other DS games. No wonder I haven't joined the current gen yet!

I'm going to recommend the one I always mention! Dragon Quest VIII (Journey of the Cursed King). It's colourful and cartoony with loads of humour and the soundtrack is amazing. You can hear all the trombones and string instruments. Beautiful.

My pet peeve with RPGs is having more characters to choose from than you can fit in your team, eg. DQIV and FFXII. In FFIII and DQVIII, you had one magic attacker (Refia and Jessica respectively) and she could do all the spells. If you were fighting a boss and a fire attack didn't work, then you'd try an ice attack, yet in DQIV, you didn't know which you'd need. Nor did you know whether you'd need the character who could cast Insulate or the one who could cast Kabuff. In DQVIII you could change tactics during the fight, because your magic attacker and healer could cast everything between them, but in DQIV you needed to guess which characters to take in with you. On top of that, you'd need to remember which ones you'd given the best equipment to. I'm afraid I probably have been soured. Not in a resentful way, just in terms of expectations. Still, despite the graphics being the same, there can be a lot of difference between a game designed on the NES and one designed on the SNES. If I'm honest though, I now give preference to Phoenix Wright 3, Etrian Odyssey, The World Ends With You and Final Fantasy IV (which is the only other unplayed DS game I own at the moment). It's interesting you mention Pokemon, as I never liked that either. I bought Pokemon Blue back in the old days when it first appeared, but for me it was a case of "too many tactics, too many character/elemental types". I did love the Monster Arena in Dragon Quest VIII though. Another RPG I never liked was Secret of Mana, which is why I'm pretty sceptical about Chrono Trigger. LOL, sorry to be negative! I'm genuinely looking forward to Dragon Quest IX and maybe I'll get DQV if I see it for £10-15!

Thank you, although I didn't need my old skool mettle for this one, just perseverance. That's the thing. If I'm honest, I've been playing RPGs almost non-stop for the past year - DQVIII, FFIII - so I've probably overdone it. Only trouble is, my next game to start is Final Fantasy IV! In all honesty, no. There were many moments when I almost felt the charm, but it never quite got there. I did enjoy chapters 1-4 a lot more than 5 (haven't done 6). It's just that it didn't really feel like a game to me. I felt I was just moving sprites around in order to activate bits of text. Yes, there were tactics, but it never felt like they made a great deal of difference, as odd as it might sound.

Just to wrap this up, I beat the Ultimate Dragon at Level 61. I levelled-up to 65 afterwards just for the fun of it - Dragon Soul is great! Ah, what a great game. I'm sure I'll go back to it even more, just because the characters are so good.

OK, I completed DQIV (Chapters of the Chosen) last night. How far are you, darksnowman? In the interests of honesty, I must say I thought it was incredibly boring and a chore to play through. I thought there were too many characters to choose from and keep equipped with the latest weapons and armour. Whereas in an RPG it's normal to have Hero, Attacker, Magic Offence, Magic Defence, in this game there were generally two of each category, making it difficult to choose which ones had the spells you wanted. I also thought there were too many towns. It was very difficult to remember which was which. In general, it just didn't really feel like I was "playing" it. On the positive side, characters levelled-up very quickly indeed. I'm still looking forward to Dragon Quest IX. Less so DQV, although hopefully it'll be better for having been designed on the SNES, not the NES.

Definitely. For me, it depends on how much quality it keeps from Dragon Quest VIII (awesome), and how much the DS downgrades it. Hopefully the balance falls in the right place. Yeah, humorous, colourful and cartoony but not surreal - perfect. If you still have your PS2 and enjoy a true RPG (like Skies, of course), I couldn't recommend it more. It's £9.99 (in stock) at Gameplay. OK, you might not like it, but it's one of those games you might love. It's called Journey of the Cursed King, by the way.

LOL, thanks! Your goodwill made it through the internet and burst through my computer! I promise I'll download Landstalker when I get a Wii. What a great game, eh? Some of my choices were difficult, but not that one. It had an atmosphere I haven't seen since, although I found Dragon Quest VIII surprisingly similar in tone.

Very difficult, but... Megadrive: Landstalker SNES: Super Mario World (maybe Super Metroid if I'd played it) Game Boy: Link's Awakening Saturn: (very difficult choice) Guardian Heroes N64: Ocarina/Majora Dreamcast: Skies of Arcadia (in all honesty, I played it on GC) GameCube: Wind Waker GBA: Metroid: Zero Mission Xbox: Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath PS2: Dragon Quest VIII DS: Phoenix Wright

Yeah, it's probably in my Top 10. I just don't think it had enough flair to be many people's favourite.

Yeah, exactly. I'm sure they could recreate the OOT atmosphere if they wanted to. It does, after all, largely come down to a technical formula. One big help might be to stop having the camera so distant from Link - to stop having these near-overhead views. Thanks for doing that, Jonnas. I'm pleased with the Top 3 so far. Regarding Oracle of... personally, I would count them as either or both. If people have given two places to those games, they should have points each, of if they want to see it as one game, that also deserves points if it makes the difference between it entering the Top 3 or not.

I was thinking about OOT's dungeons the other day. There's something very real about them (and Majora's Mask's). Maybe it's the exact camera angles they used, but there's something particularly immersive about those two games. Even as I write this I can imagine myself in the higher levels of the Fire Temple, trying to figure out how to reach the top... Sometimes I think the one way they could truly recreate the magic in OOT and MM is to use the same character models (more polygons, but exactly the same proportions), the same music, same textures (but higher-res) etc. Now personally, I think they've already "beaten" Ocarina of Time with Wind Waker (and MM), but that might be a way to truly surpass it in the eyes of fans.

Good idea. Or is it possible to start a poll where you can vote for two or three? (I don't know, as I can't start polls.) Anyway, my Top 3 are: 1. Wind Waker 2. Majora's Mask 3. Ocarina of Time

Looking on the bright side, I really hope MotionPlus is added to this now. If any motion controls were included (eg. opening doors), this should make a big difference.

Exactly. I keep imagining the next Zelda designed as a series of "scenes". I hope I'm wrong. I just can't see this formula applied to Majora's Mask or Wind Waker, for example.

I replay modern games if I think I can complete them more efficiently (speed run etc) or want to set myself up better for the post-game. As for older games, yes, I think it's for nostalgia. I've actually stopped being affected by nostalgia in the past 5-10 years, and I tend not to find old games stimulating any more, even if I loved them at the time. That said, I still love Ocarina and Majora. Hopefull though there will be something that makes even them obsolete!

The Hint system is a good idea. The Digest mode has its merits, but I find it disconcerting to think that Zelda might be reduced to some sort of cartoon that plays itself. OK, I do admit Zelda games are too complicated for casual and even mainstream gamers (I use Emasher's definitions, because I agree with them). Part of me thinks it'd be good if everyone could see the whole game, but part of me thinks "Hey, they learn how to play Halo and Call of Duty. It's their loss if they can't be bothered to appreciate Zelda". There's no doubt it's a revolutionary idea, but when I think back to how I enjoyed previous Zeldas, with all the sidequests etc, it's hard to see how that could be turned into a linear "movie" that you can dip in and out of. If you chose to play the whole "Digest" mode (even though that would defeat the point), then hopefully that would be nothing like the full game (and yes, I do realise that's what "digest" means, but it's just a thought!)

I do actually think Four Swords Adventure is easily in the Top 10, but you're right, I wasn't going to pick it as my favourite! Yes indeed, getting into the action straight away is very important. Link to the Past was my first Zelda. I played every one since and thought they got better and better (apart from both Oracle of... games and Minish Cap) up to and including Wind Waker, which is thus my favourite. I've gushed about Wind Waker so many times, but I'll just say the graphics, music and atmosphere were perfect. With all the seafaring, never has a game been so tailor-made for me. It's also extremely progressive, with a vast array of mini-dungeons and challenges outside of the main dungeons. It's proof that, if Nintendo are too conservative with the formula now (as debated in the Zelda thread), they weren't just a few years ago. Yes, I agree. I think a great many DS games are negatively affected by the hardware. It's not really clear whether the DS should be treated like a SNES or N64. Developers very often treat it like an N64 and make a game with 3D graphics. However, in my opinion, the games are nowhere near as good as the N64's. The best aspect of Phantom Hourglass was using the touchscreen for arrows and cannonballs. Other than that, I don't think it had any particular flair. As a game in its own right, it's very good, as a Zelda game, it's OK and as a sequel to Wind Waker, it's very poor.

I picked up Final Fantasy IV the other day for £14.98. ShadowV7 pointed out a while ago it was this price in GameStation, but I only just found a shop that had some. I also noticed it is now the same price in GAME. PS - I never did get the "Onion Knight" job class in FFIII. From reading an FAQ, it's fairly laborious to obtain, plus I believe I've done all the big sidequests anyway.

People tend to be fans of things like musicians and games companies because they produce art, ie. something that's not strictly necessary and would by no means just appear due to market demand in other circumstances. Take Wind Waker on the GameCube, for example. It's an absolute work of genius, and we have Nintendo to thank entirely for producing it. If they hadn't made it, no one else would have either. A chilling thought!