Getting back in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story. I'm about 11 hours in where I'm back to playing as Bowser.
I'm at what appears to the the final boss, or perhaps the pre-square boss. I tried a few times, and didn't beat it. After that, I just didn't pick it back up. I'll have to polish it off sometime soon. Game was good, but Superstar Saga was still way better than any of the newer ones.
I'm at what appears to the the final boss, or perhaps the pre-square boss. I tried a few times, and didn't beat it. After that, I just didn't pick it back up. I'll have to polish it off sometime soon. Game was good, but Superstar Saga was still way better than any of the newer ones.
It's been such a long time since Superstar Saga, that I might have to go band replay it sometime, however I really did enjoy Partners in Time more than I'm currently enjoying Bowser's Inside Story.
I'm at what appears to the the final boss, or perhaps the pre-square boss. I tried a few times, and didn't beat it. After that, I just didn't pick it back up. I'll have to polish it off sometime soon. Game was good, but Superstar Saga was still way better than any of the newer ones.
It's been such a long time since Superstar Saga, that I might have to go band replay it sometime, however I really did enjoy Partners in Time more than I'm currently enjoying Bowser's Inside Story.
My favorite part of Partners in Time is when the babies have to fight those robots that talk entirely in l337 sp33k.
So I bought Modern Warfare 2 the other day. The single player campaign was pretty good, they dropped all pretenses of being realistic and just made an insane story. I decided to try out the multiplayer since it's one of the most popular multiplayer games right now, and I think I figured out why it's so popular. First: the unlock system. Playing online is basically like playing an RPG. There are tons of little achievement type things for unlocking new guns and modifications. So basically it's Diablo "I need a new weapon" syndrome. And besides that, there's basically no teamwork going on. At all. Everyone's busy using their favorite builds, or trying to unlock a new gun by only getting kills in a specific way, so everyone is just one man armying it up for the whole match. I think one of the complaints Rym and Scott had about TF2 is that everyone just plays their favorite class and never adapts themselves to the situation. While I don't really think that was necessarily true of TF2, it IS definitely true here. Also it doesn't help that everyone that talks during the games are like twelve years old and curse enough to make a sailor wince.
So I bought Modern Warfare 2 the other day. The single player campaign was pretty good, they dropped all pretenses of being realistic and just made an insane story.
Yeah, as best I can tell, it's dropped the realisim thing, in favor of the kind of story that would make Tom Clancy's ghostwriters proud.
I'm at what appears to the the final boss, or perhaps the pre-square boss. I tried a few times, and didn't beat it. After that, I just didn't pick it back up. I'll have to polish it off sometime soon. Game was good, but Superstar Saga was still way better than any of the newer ones.
It's been such a long time since Superstar Saga, that I might have to go band replay it sometime, however I really did enjoy Partners in Time more than I'm currently enjoying Bowser's Inside Story.
Most video game sequels seem to make slight improvements on the original. They make all new levels and all new story. Most of the gameplay stays the same, but they polish lots of little annoyances. For example, in Sonic 2 they let you spin in place instead of having to get a running start, and in Left 4 Dead 2 they added melee weapons.
Nintendo, at least recently, seems to make sequels worse than the original. They make a hit game, but they don't realize why the game was a hit. They don't understand which parts of the game made it a hit. Even worse, people like me buy it anyway because Link or Mario are on the cover. We like Zelda because it has a whole bunch of huge dungeons and a big overworld to explore. We like Mario for precision control and platforming. We like Metroid because it has a huge place to explore. We liked Wario Ware for multiplayer.
So Nintendo makes Zelda games with fewer smaller easier dungeons. They make Mario with less precision controls, They make smaller Metroid games with more shooting and less exploring. They make WarioWare with horrendously bad multiplayer. My days of automatically buying the games in these fanchises is over. Instead I'll be waiting for them to get really cheap, or for Nintendo to get things right. Granted, they haven't screwed everything up 100%. New Mario Bros. is good, but the controls are still not quite at Mario 3 levels of quality.
Isn't Mario 3 a sequel? For that matter, isn't A Link to the Past? Super Metroid? Those are all fantastic games that expand on the things that made the original great.
Nintendo, at least recently, seems to make sequels worse than the original. They make a hit game, but they don't realize why the game was a hit. They don't understand which parts of the game made it a hit.
I agree for most part in this statement, because there are many examples where Nintendo has failed in their sequels.
I've pointed this out before, but things I do currently enjoy in Bowser's Inside Story vs its predecessors are: -You can practice the special attacks as many times as you want to perfect it. (I'm pretty sure the first game doesn't have this.) -After every battle, it shows how far you are close to leveling with the flag pole. -Playing as Bowser. Even though his moves are simple, it's still enjoyable.
I'm at what appears to the the final boss, or perhaps the pre-square boss. I tried a few times, and didn't beat it. After that, I just didn't pick it back up. I'll have to polish it off sometime soon. Game was good, but Superstar Saga was still way better than any of the newer ones.
It's been such a long time since Superstar Saga, that I might have to go band replay it sometime, however I really did enjoy Partners in Time more than I'm currently enjoying Bowser's Inside Story.
Most video game sequels seem to make slight improvements on the original. They make all new levels and all new story. Most of the gameplay stays the same, but they polish lots of little annoyances. For example, in Sonic 2 they let you spin in place instead of having to get a running start, and in Left 4 Dead 2 they added melee weapons.
Nintendo, at least recently, seems to make sequels worse than the original. They make a hit game, but they don't realize why the game was a hit. They don't understand which parts of the game made it a hit. Even worse, people like me buy it anyway because Link or Mario are on the cover. We like Zelda because it has a whole bunch of huge dungeons and a big overworld to explore. We like Mario for precision control and platforming. We like Metroid because it has a huge place to explore. We liked Wario Ware for multiplayer.
So Nintendo makes Zelda games with fewer smaller easier dungeons. They make Mario with less precision controls, They make smaller Metroid games with more shooting and less exploring. They make WarioWare with horrendously bad multiplayer. My days of automatically buying the games in these fanchises is over. Instead I'll be waiting for them to get really cheap, or for Nintendo to get things right. Granted, they haven't screwed everything up 100%. New Mario Bros. is good, but the controls are still not quite at Mario 3 levels of quality.
My theory is that Nintendo is so obsessed with trying new things all the time. Because of this obsession, they end up adding either unnecessary or useless additions to a series' formula, and don't know when to quit.
Man, I need to get a computer that can run Steam games then. Damn Mac, if you weren't so pretty I'd hate you.
Anyways, games: Been playing Modern Warfare 2 local multiplayer - good times with the right people. Red Faction Guerrilla - I've been pleasantly surprised by how fun it is to explore this world. And the guerrilla style of blowing up landmarks and running away to avoid the man is awakening my inner Colombian :-)
Has anyone tried Gyromancer? My friends tell me good things, and I think this will be the next game I get on XBL Arcade. Maybe this will make up for Puzzle Quest Galactrix.
Nintendo, at least recently, seems to make sequels worse than the original. They make a hit game, but they don't realize why the game was a hit. They don't understand which parts of the game made it a hit.
I have found that this is only partly true. While there are some glaring examples (Wario Ware: Smooth Moves and really any new hand held Zelda game after the Oracle games), there are a lot of them that do take what they have learned and are used for the betterment of the game. Super Mario Galaxy is a massive improvement over Sunshine and 64, Twilight Princess is phenomenally better (in my opinion) than Ocarina of Time. With those games, Nintendo knew exactly what made them good and cut the unneeded fat to make them better.
I will say, though, that sometimes we build up games way too much in our heads. As a memory, they become some unreachable and untouchable pinnacle of perfection.
My theory is that Nintendo is so obsessed with trying new things all the time.
It's not that Nintendo is obsessed, it's more that the fan base is constantly clamouring for something new. People were demanding a new Mario game before Super Mario Galaxy was even a year old, and that is just completely ridiculous.
Super Mario Galaxy is a massive improvement over Sunshine and 64, Twilight Princess is phenomenally better (in my opinion) than Ocarina of Time. With those games, Nintendo knew exactly what made them good and cut the unneeded fat to make them better.
I disagree. I like Mario 64 the most, but Galaxy is better than Sunshine. Also, I like Ocarina way way better than TP. The only reason I like Ocarina better is because it had more dungeons, and the overworld was more interesting.
I never did play Mario 64, however I really do enjoy Sunshine and Galaxy almost equally, even though I spent less time playing Galaxy. I enjoyed being able to explore freely in various levels in Sunshine vs being limited to certain areas in Galaxy. I do enjoy both of the different controls and movies Mario does in both games along with the water jet pack and many various Mario suits.
I'm happy to see that more people are getting into Red Faction: Guerrilla. I just got to the Eos missions last night. The end is near.
Over the break I also finally finished off the trophies for Uncharted 2, so that game is officially done. Then I went back and played through Dead Space again since my previous playthrough had been on a crappy CRT TV. Playing it again in HD was amazing and made the game so much better. (And I got one of the last two trophies I need to complete that one)
On the RPG side, continuing my umpteenth playthrough of FFVII, just got to the second disc. Also very close to finishing Chrono Trigger for the first time. Just need to wrap up the last two side quests at the end of the game before facing Lavos.
I'm currently on a video game binge at the moment. Bought lots of games during Steam's New Year's sale. World of Goo is filling the puzzle niche, Trine might supplant that though. Will have to see. Torchlight is serving up the mindless Hack n Slash and get loots side. It's really fun if you like those sorts of games. I also bought Street Fighter IV. I suck at fighter games but it was only 10 bucks on Steam. About all I can handle playing is E Honda at the moment.
I also bought Street Fighter IV. I suck at fighter games but it was only 10 bucks on Steam.
Same here.
I can barely use any charge characters.
I'm much better at charge characters. Charge moves are way easier to execute than quarter/half/full circle characters, especially without a real joystick. Zangief is the hardest. I can never pull of his full-circle slam. Shoryuikens also elude me. I'm lucky that I can even do a hadouken reliably.
I can usually do all of the special attacks with charge characters, but it's the super and the ultra that always get me. The forward/backward motion on the controller really gets me for some reason.
I can usually do all of the special attacks with charge characters, but it's the super and the ultra that always get me. The forward/backward motion on the controller really gets me for some reason.
I have a hard time doing super and ultra with ANY character. They make them so impossible.
I know hardcore fighter people hate it, but with so many buttons on the controllers, there really is no reason to have these crazy special move combinations other than tradition. Every special move should either have it's own button, or should be as simple as pressing two buttons simultaneously.
If I were to make a brand new fighting game, these are the controls I would use on the 360 controller.
Forward - Walk forward Up - Jump Backward - Walk backward Down - Crouch Up+forward - jump forward up+backward - jump backward down+forward - walk forward slowly while crouching down+backward - walk backward slowl while crouching double-tap forward - dash forward double-tap backward - dash backward
Left trigger - block (at any time/position) A - light punch B - heavy punch X - light kick Y - heavy kick
right-trigger = special move modifier right-trigger + A = special move one right-trigger + B = special move two right-trigger + X = special move three right-trigger + Y = special move four
This kind of control scheme still gives you a very large number of options, allowing for a complex and interesting fighting game without requiring the player to execute fiddly special moves. Skill in the game will be about selecting the right moves with the correct timing. You would still have an extremely high skill cap, allowing people to become hardcore grand masters. However, the learning curve would drop down to earth allowing new players to jump right in and start pulling off special moves.
I mean think about Street Fighter 2 for a minute. A very simple fighting game by today's standards. However, even this relatively simple game scares away complete newb players. They don't even know how to throw a fireball, meanwhile the opponent is executing all sorts of crazy special moves and combos. People will have much more fun, and be much more willing to play, if they can jump right in and start throwing fireballs. Even if they get their ass handed to them, it will feel less unfair if they were executing the same special moves as their opponent. It feels very unfair to lose to someone if it's only because they know some secret moves you don't know.
Yes, the special moves are printed on the arcade machine, and are in the instruction book, and they are all listed in a menu. But the only reason we can understand those instructions is because we already have fighting game knowledge. Think about this for a minute. You take someone who has never played a fighting game before, and you try to teach them how to do a hadouken. Here are the instructions.
Down, down+forward, forward + punch.
Ok, so obviously they know that they have to push down, down+forward, and forward in sequence because you can't push them simultaneously. But I've seen newbs re-center the stick between each press. down, center, down,forward, center, forward, center. They also do it very slowly. Even if they know to sweep the stick in a quarter circle, they have no indication of how quickly to do it. Sometimes they do it too quickly, and it doesn't work. Other times they do it too slowly. Ryu just ducks and then starts walking forwards. They also don't know if they should press the punch button at the same time they press forward, or shortly after they press forward, or a little while after.
We were discussing this weekend, there is a solution. Even if you keep the button combinations for special moves, we need a better way for newbs to learn them. Basically, we need to have some Dance Dance Revolution-like user interface for teaching special moves. Normal people are playing Rock Band, so it's very easy to use that kind of display to teach people timing of button presses. Just have the arrows and buttons fall down the screen to teach the player the timing of the moves. This wouldn't be just for noobs either. Someone like me could use it to finally learn how to do Zangief's full-circle moves, or super-combo attacks, properly.
Also, it wouldn't hurt if the games had some tutorials to teach you some basic combos. It also wouldn't hurt to have a tutorial to teach players the basic rules. What's an EX attack? What do those super meters mean? How do you tech out or counter? These things are not obvious. Teach them to the player.
That aside, I really like playing good fighting games and losing.
Comments
Nintendo, at least recently, seems to make sequels worse than the original. They make a hit game, but they don't realize why the game was a hit. They don't understand which parts of the game made it a hit. Even worse, people like me buy it anyway because Link or Mario are on the cover. We like Zelda because it has a whole bunch of huge dungeons and a big overworld to explore. We like Mario for precision control and platforming. We like Metroid because it has a huge place to explore. We liked Wario Ware for multiplayer.
So Nintendo makes Zelda games with fewer smaller easier dungeons. They make Mario with less precision controls, They make smaller Metroid games with more shooting and less exploring. They make WarioWare with horrendously bad multiplayer. My days of automatically buying the games in these fanchises is over. Instead I'll be waiting for them to get really cheap, or for Nintendo to get things right. Granted, they haven't screwed everything up 100%. New Mario Bros. is good, but the controls are still not quite at Mario 3 levels of quality.
I've pointed this out before, but things I do currently enjoy in Bowser's Inside Story vs its predecessors are:
-You can practice the special attacks as many times as you want to perfect it. (I'm pretty sure the first game doesn't have this.)
-After every battle, it shows how far you are close to leveling with the flag pole.
-Playing as Bowser. Even though his moves are simple, it's still enjoyable.
Anyways, games:
Been playing Modern Warfare 2 local multiplayer - good times with the right people.
Red Faction Guerrilla - I've been pleasantly surprised by how fun it is to explore this world. And the guerrilla style of blowing up landmarks and running away to avoid the man is awakening my inner Colombian :-)
I will say, though, that sometimes we build up games way too much in our heads. As a memory, they become some unreachable and untouchable pinnacle of perfection. It's not that Nintendo is obsessed, it's more that the fan base is constantly clamouring for something new. People were demanding a new Mario game before Super Mario Galaxy was even a year old, and that is just completely ridiculous.
I never did play Mario 64, however I really do enjoy Sunshine and Galaxy almost equally, even though I spent less time playing Galaxy. I enjoyed being able to explore freely in various levels in Sunshine vs being limited to certain areas in Galaxy. I do enjoy both of the different controls and movies Mario does in both games along with the water jet pack and many various Mario suits.
Over the break I also finally finished off the trophies for Uncharted 2, so that game is officially done. Then I went back and played through Dead Space again since my previous playthrough had been on a crappy CRT TV. Playing it again in HD was amazing and made the game so much better. (And I got one of the last two trophies I need to complete that one)
On the RPG side, continuing my umpteenth playthrough of FFVII, just got to the second disc. Also very close to finishing Chrono Trigger for the first time. Just need to wrap up the last two side quests at the end of the game before facing Lavos.
Also @MrRoboto: Capcom knows what's up.
I know hardcore fighter people hate it, but with so many buttons on the controllers, there really is no reason to have these crazy special move combinations other than tradition. Every special move should either have it's own button, or should be as simple as pressing two buttons simultaneously.
If I were to make a brand new fighting game, these are the controls I would use on the 360 controller.
Forward - Walk forward
Up - Jump
Backward - Walk backward
Down - Crouch
Up+forward - jump forward
up+backward - jump backward
down+forward - walk forward slowly while crouching
down+backward - walk backward slowl while crouching
double-tap forward - dash forward
double-tap backward - dash backward
Left trigger - block (at any time/position)
A - light punch
B - heavy punch
X - light kick
Y - heavy kick
right-trigger = special move modifier
right-trigger + A = special move one
right-trigger + B = special move two
right-trigger + X = special move three
right-trigger + Y = special move four
This kind of control scheme still gives you a very large number of options, allowing for a complex and interesting fighting game without requiring the player to execute fiddly special moves. Skill in the game will be about selecting the right moves with the correct timing. You would still have an extremely high skill cap, allowing people to become hardcore grand masters. However, the learning curve would drop down to earth allowing new players to jump right in and start pulling off special moves.
I mean think about Street Fighter 2 for a minute. A very simple fighting game by today's standards. However, even this relatively simple game scares away complete newb players. They don't even know how to throw a fireball, meanwhile the opponent is executing all sorts of crazy special moves and combos. People will have much more fun, and be much more willing to play, if they can jump right in and start throwing fireballs. Even if they get their ass handed to them, it will feel less unfair if they were executing the same special moves as their opponent. It feels very unfair to lose to someone if it's only because they know some secret moves you don't know.
Yes, the special moves are printed on the arcade machine, and are in the instruction book, and they are all listed in a menu. But the only reason we can understand those instructions is because we already have fighting game knowledge. Think about this for a minute. You take someone who has never played a fighting game before, and you try to teach them how to do a hadouken. Here are the instructions.
Down, down+forward, forward + punch.
Ok, so obviously they know that they have to push down, down+forward, and forward in sequence because you can't push them simultaneously. But I've seen newbs re-center the stick between each press. down, center, down,forward, center, forward, center. They also do it very slowly. Even if they know to sweep the stick in a quarter circle, they have no indication of how quickly to do it. Sometimes they do it too quickly, and it doesn't work. Other times they do it too slowly. Ryu just ducks and then starts walking forwards. They also don't know if they should press the punch button at the same time they press forward, or shortly after they press forward, or a little while after.
We were discussing this weekend, there is a solution. Even if you keep the button combinations for special moves, we need a better way for newbs to learn them. Basically, we need to have some Dance Dance Revolution-like user interface for teaching special moves. Normal people are playing Rock Band, so it's very easy to use that kind of display to teach people timing of button presses. Just have the arrows and buttons fall down the screen to teach the player the timing of the moves. This wouldn't be just for noobs either. Someone like me could use it to finally learn how to do Zangief's full-circle moves, or super-combo attacks, properly.
Also, it wouldn't hurt if the games had some tutorials to teach you some basic combos. It also wouldn't hurt to have a tutorial to teach players the basic rules. What's an EX attack? What do those super meters mean? How do you tech out or counter? These things are not obvious. Teach them to the player.
That aside, I really like playing good fighting games and losing.