Gaming thoughts of the day

[Crimson Ryan]

I'm not sure about Dead Souls mode, but it does pick up a bit later on in normal mode, when combinations of various enemies start coming in. It never got super-hard, but maybe Dead Souls mode will do that.

I'm anticipating as much. From what I've read if you're ill-prepared beforehand the on-rails sections are nearly impossible..

[Who Really Cares?]

For some reason when ever i see Kenny's name i can hear Cartman saying it in my head. May have watched a bit too much SP.

[OL]

I'm anticipating as much. From what I've read if you're ill-prepared beforehand the on-rails sections are nearly impossible..

Oh shit, I forgot about that. Yeah, I think I just barely got out of those alive on normal mode on the first try. Anything harder will likely take a lot of re-trying.

[Crimson Ryan]

I don't remember it being too bad on Hard mode. I'll find out soon enough.

[Dorian]

I love the JSR documentary that SEGA made as a bonus to JSRHD. A small-budget thingy, but it invoked a lot of warm feels. Great to see those guys alive and smiling. It also has a perfect summary for the historical and cultural background of JSR. My mental ovaries would explode if there was a video like this about Shenmue.

[Who Really Cares?]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubZzWMOCbC0[/youtube]

[Martin]

N & B is just terrible. I already posted Jon Tron but everything he said is correct.

Must say I don't agree, Ryudo. I probably love N&B just as much as the first two, which is saying a lot as they're two of my absolute favourite games. I said elsewhere more-or-less my opinion of N&B, why I think people don't like it, and why I love it and think it's totally Banjo-Kazooie.

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. After having 100% on the first two on 360, it's finally time to beat this one. I must say, even though BK fans tend to diss this one, I love it. It's basically classic Banjo-Kazooie, except the transformations of old are replaced by building your own 'transformations'. The platforming element is much reduced, but that's OK. In my opinion, most of those who decry Nuts & Bolts for not being a platformer probably haven't played Banjo-Tooie. That game took the old BK platforming formula to it's ultimate extent.

Aside from the graphics, there's really nothing they could have improved. 'Tooie is massive, and the later levels are ridiculously-complex. The levels are all interconnected, and some jiggies require a lot of work. I remember one in Jolly Roger's Lagoon which requires work in three different worlds to get. Nuts & Bolts is awesome, I don't care what anyone says. Not just a great game, but a great BK game. Such immense fan-service in N&B.

In short;

N64: Large hub world. = 360: Large hub world.
N64: Large sub worlds. = 360: Large sub worlds.
N64: Complete tasks to get jiggies/other collectibles. = 360: Complete tasks to get jiggies/other collectibles.
N64: Learn moves as you progress. = 360: Earn vehicle parts as you progress.
N64: Use new moves to get things you couldn't get earlier on. = 360: Use new parts to get things you couldn't get earlier on.
N64: Mumbo transforms you. = 360: Mumbo runs the garage where you transform yourself into whatever you want.
N64: Awesome humour and likeable characters. = 360: Awesome humour and likeable characters.
N64: Awesome music and overall sound design. = 360: Awesome music and overall sound design.
N64: Beautiful visuals for it's time. = 360: Beautiful visuals for it's time.

I think if people want more pure BK platforming, then they probably just haven't played the second game, and almost certainly haven't gotten the most out of the first two games. It's good that they twisted the BK formula slightly. At the start of 'Tooie you have all the moves from the first game. Keeping track of all of them was one thing. By the end of 'Tooie you got an insane amount of moves to remember. There's literally not enough buttons on N64 or 360 to keep track of them all, with some having slightly obtuse combinations to initiate.

That and the overall pant-shitting complexity and difficulty of 'Tooie in terms of real completion. 100% completion in Banjo-Kazooie was very difficult. Merely getting enough jiggies to face Grunty in the final battle of 'Tooie is just as difficult. 100% it is.. well. Let me just tell you that my 100% file of BK is 11 hours, whereas my 100% of BT is 22 hours. Banjo-Tooie is one hard fucking 3D platform game, and in my opinion, one of the ultimate examples of the genre. It's an insanely tough game to complete.

I wish before people write-off Nuts & Bolts as some kind of travesty to the series and fans, they'd make sure they've gotten the most out of the first two games. Every drop of gameplay (it is a collectathon, after all!). After doing that, I can't see how anyone what want the same thing again, just with better graphics and even higher levels of complexity/difficulty. As I said before, where the hell would all the new moves go? Not have new moves? That's lame.

I'm rabbiting. I love N&B, but it's OK to think it's shit as well if that's what you really think. Can't see why, personally!

Not liked a single thing Rare has made since N64. N & B looked pretty but hated it. I ave the first on N64 always have had Tooie on the list. Just not seen it in the wild yet.

It's an expensive game on N64. I had it on PAL (sold it for £70), but still have a loose NTSC cartridge. Selling all my PAL stuff. The loose cart cost me £30ish, I believe. OK deal.

Get it on 360 if you can. Better and cheaper. Nothing wrong with the original version of course, just the price.

[Thief]

I've always hated double sized cases when the game only came with two discs or even just one disc so today I went ahead and did this.









There are still a few games I'd like to do this to but I don't have any extra cases to put them in at the moment.

[Segata Sanshiro Jr.]

I love the JSR documentary that SEGA made as a bonus to JSRHD. A small-budget thingy, but it invoked a lot of warm feels. Great to see those guys alive and smiling. It also has a perfect summary for the historical and cultural background of JSR. My mental ovaries would explode if there was a video like this about Shenmue.

I know what else feels warm

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HChzRB8h6LU[/youtube]

Lots of good stuff

You've got something core concept. Its a Banjo game because it takes the core mechanic and modifies it thats the whole point of making a game part of a series. Even then its not Banjo 3, it's Banjo nuts and bolts they aren't promising the same gameplay by slapping a number on. Truthfully, I think a lot of people played a bit of the first game, never tried the second game felt nostalgic and bought the 3rd and found a new idea that wasn't what they were nostalgic for even though it was a natural evolution.

[Thief]

I just wasn't much of a fan of the levels and mission based structure of Nuts & Bolts. It seemed to be missing the exploration feel and wonder that the other games had. I personally never cared much for platforming challenges and don't really play games to challenge myself (well I play shmups for the that), instead I like exploring new worlds and places as an escape. Nuts & Bolts isn't a bad game but it doesn't really appeal to me.

[Segata Sanshiro Jr.]

Thats understandable, I wish we still had proper Rare to deliver games like that as well.

I like exploration which is why I liked Xenoblade and FF12. (despite what Mitts and Dorian say its actually scaled pretty well and the movement speed isn't a problem hence getting across a sprawling plain takes a while but getting around a town like Colony 9 takes a few minutes)

[Dorian]

(despite what Mitts and Dorian say its actually scaled pretty well and the movement speed isn't a problem hence getting across a sprawling plain but getting around a town like Colony 9 takes a few minutes)

It's scaled god-awfully IMO, at least for those who get how it works. The disillusion that follows when you're finally noticing how much the game is fucking with your sense of space can be very disturbing. The movement speed may not be a problem under an emu where you speed things up (a lot of PC users did this with Xenoblade, which just shows that the movement speed is an issue), but it's awful on Wii.

Xenoblade is a game that got a lot of praise only because all the other in the room got a deadly virus and it was the only one left standing. One of my biggest disappointments this gen.

[Segata Sanshiro Jr.]

(despite what Mitts and Dorian say its actually scaled pretty well and the movement speed isn't a problem hence getting across a sprawling plain but getting around a town like Colony 9 takes a few minutes)

It's scaled god-awfully, at least for those who get how it works. The disillusion that follows when you're finally noticing how much the game is fucking with your sense of space can be very disturbing. The movement speed may not be a problem under an emu where you speed things up (a lot of PC users did this with Xenoblade, which just shows that the movement speed is an issue), but it's awful on Wii.

Xenoblade is a game that got a lot of praise only because all the other in the room got a deadly virus and it was the only one left standing. One of my biggest disappointments this gen.

Remember I've sat there modifying dolphin and even messing around with the frontloading assets. That said its still not bad scale, and I "get how it works" It has its share of issues but its still a pretty good game that provides a lot of fu especially to someone like me who is playing it in higher quality.

If we really want to get into it, I replayed a lot of classic rpgs to look at how they handle themselves and the list of "do not"s I had for Xenogears was pretty close the the list I had for Xenoblade. (The list i had for FFX made me lol) I'm not disillusioned and think Xenoblade is perfect, but I'm objective in my criticisms of all systems. If you want to do the same, we can talk about my research and talk about whats RPGs in general struggle with, but if you can't stand to hear the games you like being shit on I won't be able to tell you what I've found.

[AnimeGamer183]

I am very curious what The Last Remnant will play like when I finally get my PC built, and running off the solid state drive I am getting. I heard it had loading issues on the 360 but they were a bit better on PC, but my hopes are it will run flawlessly with the setup/SSD I have in mind right now. SSD supposedly significantly reduces game load times so... *crosses fingers*

And at this price, why not? http://www.amazon.com/The-Last-Remnant- ... st+remnant

Also, anyone know if the last remnant PC version can be controlled via a xbox 360/windows live controller like this one? http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Xbox-Wi ... controller

And while we are on it, should I attempt just trying to hook up my PS3 controller and use that with my PC for games?

[Segata Sanshiro Jr.]

It plays pretty well for me and I don't have an SSD yet. its got that Kawazu difficulty. The loading times aren't too too bad on pc.