4847 replies to this topic

[Russ]

This is minor, but why did they do away with the save anywhere feature of past games?

Probably because of the bugs. TP in particular could be soft-locked by saving in the wrong location. By limiting saving to certain areas, you greatly reduce that possibility. Additionally, in games with big dungeons like Skyward Sword, it lets you create continue points mid-dungeon to allow for more expansive feeling dungeons with less backtracking.

[Anthus]

This is minor, but why did they do away with the save anywhere feature of past games?

That's pretty much my only complaint with the game. Unlike the console counterparts, you can close the DS and put it in standby so it's not too bad as long as your battery is good and charged.

Been playing Metroid Prime. Tried finishing Prime 2 on my old save at the end, but I forgot how much I really don't care for Prime 2. Annoying enemies, annoying dark world backtracking, and annoying Beam ammo. Gross. I really want to like Prime 2 too cause it does do a lot of stuff right, and even better than in one in some areas.

But while playing Prime 1, this happened:

https://youtu.be/HznLfNj8hUQ

[Cukeman]

Probably because of the bugs. TP in particular could be soft-locked by saving in the wrong location. By limiting saving to certain areas, you greatly reduce that possibility. Additionally, in games with big dungeons like Skyward Sword, it lets you create continue points mid-dungeon to allow for more expansive feeling dungeons with less backtracking.

 

I still don't get it though. I mean, you could press start, select save, the game could then warp you to one of the statues and save...

 

EDIT: I guess "save anytime" would more accurately reflect what I meant than "save anywhere"

Edited by Cukeman, 04 September 2016 - 04:47 PM.

[SpikeReynolds]

Playing Mass Effect again. I  started a file like a year and a half ago and didn't end up getting very far.

[Cukeman]

Been playing Metroid Prime. Tried finishing Prime 2 on my old save at the end, but I forgot how much I really don't care for Prime 2. Annoying enemies, annoying dark world backtracking, and annoying Beam ammo. Gross. I really want to like Prime 2 too cause it does do a lot of stuff right, and even better than in one in some areas.

 

Took me a while to get a taste for Echoes, but I like it more than the original now. Especially musically and because the environments and enemies are a lot more original (Prime revamps all the standard Metroid stuff). I tire of the endless space pirates and chozo ghosts in Prime. Also ice and lava levels are so typical. I love the swamp and robot areas in Echoes. Even the desert and moth stuff is pretty neat.

Edited by Cukeman, 04 September 2016 - 04:56 PM.

[The Satellite]

Re designated save points in Zelda games: We live in an era of patches that can be quickly and easily distributed, negating the worries for softlocks during inopportune save moments.

 

Re hookshot-on-raft/fire rod puzzle hints: I thought the hookshot one seemed kind of obvious. Maybe somewhat nonsensical but if you want sense in Zelda, you're playing the wrong series.

 

The fire rod one though I thought was genuinely clever and wouldn't want a hint for that. If anything it's super refreshing compared to having the puzzles spelled out for you in previous games.

[Cukeman]

I did solve the Fire Rod without too much trouble, but the raft thing was only used once in that dungeon and was the last chest I was stuck on for a really long time.
 
 


 

The fire rod one though I thought was genuinely clever and wouldn't want a hint for that. If anything it's super refreshing compared to having the puzzles spelled out for you in previous games.

 
It was clever in The Wind Waker when you combined the Iron Boots with the Hookshot. You know the Boots make you heavy, and the Hookshot pulls things. Here there's no way to know Link can plant his feet.

Edited by Cukeman, 04 September 2016 - 07:01 PM.

[Anthus]

Took me a while to get a taste for Echoes, but I like it more than the original now. Especially musically and because the environments and enemies are a lot more original (Prime revamps all the standard Metroid stuff). I tire of the endless space pirates and chozo ghosts in Prime. Also ice and lava levels are so typical. I love the swamp and robot areas in Echoes. Even the desert and moth stuff is pretty neat.

That's what I mean, I like Prime 2's setting better, and the soundtrack is arguably better too, but Prime 1 had to play it safe, I feel, to not scare off fans. I really liked the annihilator beam/ echo visor combo. The sound based puzzles were one of the cooler aspects of the game, but they come into play very late. Sanctuary Fortress is probably my favorite area in any Metroid game, and it is ironically in my least favorite game. Phendrana Drifts is a close second though. Love the music too. Favorite Prime 1 area for sure, and Metroid never had an ice area before that (even though Fusion also had one, but it came out at the same time so..) Back to Prime 2 though, the screw attack is also nice to have. The ability to move more freely with it would be nice, but then it might break a lot of the 3D areas, or just be generally unwieldy. I always also thought the light beam looked really cool. Dark beam is meh. Fires slow, basically useless outside of puzzles, and acting as an ice beam in a few cases, but does essentially nothing save for farm light beam ammo in the tougher, enemy ridden darkworld. Sound, and light are cool beams. Darkness could have been done better, and really, replaced with anything, cause how does light + dark = sound, anyway ?

Stylistically, I'd say 2 wins over 1, but I find 1 to be more enjoyable cause of the aforementioned darkworld elements in 2. The game did not need a dark world. I wish they would have just made the current levels bigger, or put that effort into another new area entirely (maybe a smaller dark world that is a new area altogether?) . I will concede though, I absolutely hate 1's Chozo Ghosts. They are tedious, not fun to fight, and boring after the umpteenth time. Oh, and they respawn ALWAYS if you go more than two rooms away? Cool. Have them in as a mini-boss, or at least make them not respawn.

Edited by Anthus, 04 September 2016 - 07:46 PM.

[Nicholas Steel]

Playing Mass Effect again. I  started a file like a year and a half ago and didn't end up getting very far.

I've still yet to play the 3rd Mass Effect game but so far every time I try Mass Effect 2 I'll get most of the way through the game and then get bored/frustrated with it. Mass Effect 2 is a terrible PC game compared to Mass Effect 1. All of the UI's and menu's are very badly designed in ME2 in that none of them properly utilize the available screen space. ME1 makes excellent use of the UI though I will admit there are things like the Equipment menu that could be significantly improved in terms of information feedback and equipment sorting.

 

In ME2 a lot of text boxes in the menus require scrolling when there is at least a centimeter (or more) of room on my 24" display for them to increases the height of the text box (or thin its borders) and completely eliminate the need to scroll its contents. The Codex which is interesting to read, was made clumsy and tedious to navigate in the second game through categorizing information in to tabs and then further in to sub-tabs so you end up navigating between tabs, sub-tabs and stuff. Iirc most UI's require clicking within them before they can be scrolled with the scroll wheel where as in ME1 you just had to hover the mouse courser over a UI element before that UI element would respond to the scroll wheel.

 

ME2 also has a shitty super zoomed in over-the-shoulder view. It makes me feel very nauseous and claustrophobic. There are ways to zoom out/further back from your character which greatly alleviates the issue, but the parameters you alter to do this break weapon zooming/scopes (Instead of zooming properly/entering scoped view the camera will barely zoom in, you also can't adjust the zoom level with the scroll wheel in this mode which makes sniper rifle style weaponry terrible to use effectively).

 

ME1's only major issues that I've encountered was that the game seriously hates anything to do with Creative/Soundblaster sound cards and their drivers. The game likes to make Creative's drivers trigger a BSOD randomly during gameplay and the game will in general suffer strange and incorrect audio positioning and volume levels for sound effects and voice dialog while using Creative audio devices (volume levels randomly fluctuated even for menu sound effects while in a menu). Neither of these issues exist when using my Realtek integrated soundcard but the Creative Soundcards that I had simply sounded better than the Realtek device in every game and music program that I compared them with (Better bass, audio warmth, sound stage).

 

Also, Metroid Prime 2 is better than Metroid Prime 1 until you get the Light Suit and have to finish hunting down the keys for the final boss, then it becomes a huge bore. MP2's Temple Grounds music can also die in the center of a sun being sucked up by a black hole (composition is arguably more repetitive sounding than Magmor Caverns in MP1 and the instrumentation is more annoying than Magmor Caverns).

 

In Metroid Prime 2 they could've kept the High Jump and added a proper Space Jump upgrade (Instead of Screw Attack) but this level of freedom would've made it difficult to create any puzzle environments. As it is they treat the Space Jump as a High Jump upgrade.

Edited by Nicholas Steel, 05 September 2016 - 08:29 AM.

[Nicholas Steel]

I wanna get that game so much.

 

I'm REALLY liking ALBW! It's unfortunate that the dungeons aren't very long, but dungeon puzzles are mostly great. There were a couple things that didn't seem well implemented, how was I supposed to know that Link plants his feet on a raft when using the Hookshot? And I also didn't know the Fire Rod could reach vertical targets. Those gameplay elements needed some kind of hints or introductions.

 

There are some minor issues, like not having anything to buy with all this money (unless it becomes a requirement to buy the rental items for some reason), but the enemies are much more plentiful and challenging than Ocarina of Time, which is hugely important to me. 

 

Progress so far: Thieves Town, Swamp Palace, and Skull Woods complete, saved at the entrance of Dark Palace.

 

This is minor, but why did they do away with the save anywhere feature of past games?

If you enjoyed (or can withstand) the original NES Zelda than I think you will like 3D Dot Game Heroes. It's a kind of hybrid between the original Zelda and Link to the Past. It's visually interesting and has some nice music, seems to have a proficient New Game+ mode (I've just beaten the 5th dungeon so can't personally comment on what NG+ entails other than from what I've read). The only issues I have with the game are the collision detection being wonky (especially during the 4th dungeon's boss fight) and the games performance/frame rate often tanking in various dungeon rooms. Maaaybe some of the fetch quests are annoying too.

 

Overall though, I'd rate it an 8/10 for a classic/retro Zeldaesque game and claim it to be a Must Have game if you're a Zelda fan. Also although there is only one FAQ/Walkthrough on GameFAQS, it is incredibly well done so there is no need to worry about getting stuck.

Edited by Nicholas Steel, 05 September 2016 - 08:48 AM.

[Anthus]

Speaking of clumsy menus, I forgot to mention how bad Echoes' menu screen is. If they were going for cumbersome, they hit the nail on the head there.

[Cukeman]

I did prefer the scan icons in Prime over the entire object being highlighted in Echoes.

[Fiyaball]

Just got Joker 2 as a birthday gift, gonna have fun with that. Can't wait for 7 to come out on 3DS!

[Nicholas Steel]

In 3D Dot Game heroes the 5th dungeon item is hidden very sneakily. Hint:

Spoiler

Pay attention to the enemies.

Edited by Nicholas Steel, 05 September 2016 - 11:31 PM.

[thepsynergist]

Been playing Oblivion using the Morroblivion mod.  It puts the entire questline and world space of Morrowind into Oblivion.  It's fun playing Morrowind when it actually has a physics engine.