4847 replies to this topic

[Dawnlight]

I just started Arc Rise Fantasia (My JRPG of the Month for May) and my first impressions: While the VA is obviously terrible, this game feels SO old school. Brings back memories of the PS2 RPG genre. It has a lot of Tales inspiration.

I also got further into Xenoblade Chronicles and now I can officially say that this game is one of the best games on the Wii. Period. It might be one of my favorite JRPGs of all time.

I'm getting Infinite Undiscovery soon. If anyone played it, what do you think about it? I've been waiting a long time to play this game. I've played the other 2 Tri-ace games Star Ocean: The Last Hope and Resonance of Fate.

[Lightwulf]

I know you guys are gonna' think I'm behind in the times, but right now I'm playing Twilight Princess. I just got it for Christmas last December. I got all the poes, beat the Cave of Ordeals, got all the Heart Pieces, and I just got the frog lure so that I can catch the loach (the legit way, not using the sinker). After that, I'll finally tackle Hyrule Castle. I actually have beaten the game 3 times so far, but that was on someone else's character.

So far, I've found that Rayman is probably the best one to do multiplayer with my 4-year-old brother, because it's easy enough to rescue him after he does something stupid. Oddly enough, he's fairly competent at this game, and I don't have to revive him as often as you would think.

Yeah, kurt91, I'm surprised what them little kids can do! I have a 5-year-old relative that loves playing TP. Even though he's had help with all the bosses (and his character has most everything except 1 Poe), he keeps going back to all the dungeons to replay them. He's so good now that I hardly have to help him get through the dungeons any more!

Anyway, I thought I'd post my thoughts about TP. It's not a full review; just some things that have crossed my mind. My philosophy, if you will.
I didn't think I should put it in a separate topic, so I'll use a spoiler tag so you guys aren't "forced" to read it to get through the post. (BTW, I'm not sure how to put anything other than the word "Spoiler" as the spoiler header.)

Spoiler

Twilight Princess: The Deep Dish
by Lightwulf

1. One thing that amazes me about TP is how it follows the classic Zelda 1 formula, but in a new and exciting way. What I mean is that it has 8 main levels with Ganon(dorf) at the end of level 9. Not only that, but you start out with a Wooden Sword! That hasn't happened since Zelda 1! (However, I never played MC, WW, PH, or the Oracle series, so I don't know if they had one.)

2. Another thing I realized is how TP has completely different elements/themes for every dungeon. (Quest makers could learn a lot from this game!) Along with those themes, I can assign a general color to each one for comparison. They are as follows:
Level 1 - Forest Temple: Forest/Plant theme; Green
Level 2 - Goron Mines: Lava/Magnetism theme; Red
Level 3 - Lakebed Temple: Water theme; Blue
Level 4 - Arbiter's Grounds: Sand/Ghost(Poe) theme; Tan (color of sand)
Level 5 - Snowpeak Mansion: Snow/Ice theme; White
Level 6 - Temple of Time: Statue/Time theme; Light Yellow/Sepia (color of old photos)
Level 7 - City in the Sky: Air theme; Light Blue
Level 8 - Twilight Palace: Shadow/"Twilight" theme; Purple
Level 9 - Hyrule Castle: Rain/Ghost(soldiers) theme; Grey (This one's theme is a bit loose because it's more of an actual place than just a "dungeon".)
- If you'll notice, these colors are evident throughout each level.

3. One thing that I thought is awesome is the unity of music throughout the game. There is one musical rephrain in the Hyrule Field (day) music that is repeated in other areas of the game. It is heard in: Hyrule Field (day), Hyrule Field (night), Gerudo Desert, Snowpeak (which has more than one musical rephrain from Hyrule Field), and the Fishing Hole.
3.5. Not only that, but the slight transitions in music are done very well. When Link is walking on Hyrule Field (in the day), an oboe is heard; when he mounts Epona, it immediately switches to trumpets. In Hyrule Castle Town, all 4 areas have the same tempo and the same basic tune, but different parts are brought forward. The main music is in North Castle Town; South Castle Town is the same as North, but adds what sounds like the jingle of a tamborine; West Castle Town switches to primarily bassoon music; East Castle Town primarily uses trumpets.

Well, that's all I got right now. Feel free to comment on any of this.

[Nicholas Steel]

I've returned to Monster Hunter 3: Tri for now, also playing Skyrim and maybe play some more Xenoblade Chronicles in the future (Great game btw). Getting Diablo III for me birthday and will buy myself a copy of Torchlight 2 when it comes out.

[The Satellite]

(BTW, I'm not sure how to put anything other than the word "Spoiler" as the spoiler header.)

CODE

[hidden=spoiler title goes here][/hidden]

Spoiler

1. One thing that amazes me about TP is how it follows the classic Zelda 1 formula, but in a new and exciting way. What I mean is that it has 8 main levels with Ganon(dorf) at the end of level 9. Not only that, but you start out with a Wooden Sword! That hasn't happened since Zelda 1! (However, I never played MC, WW, PH, or the Oracle series, so I don't know if they had one.)

Wow, I never actually thought about it that way. Of course, it's still kind of vague because the path is completely different, and everything's a lot more obvious instead of encouraging you to explore around, so really, it's kind of a vague comparison.

As for your Wooden Sword query, this should answer that: http://zeldawiki.org/Wooden_Sword

Spoiler

3. One thing that I thought is awesome is the unity of music throughout the game. There is one musical rephrain in the Hyrule Field (day) music that is repeated in other areas of the game. It is heard in: Hyrule Field (day), Hyrule Field (night), Gerudo Desert, Snowpeak (which has more than one musical rephrain from Hyrule Field), and the Fishing Hole.
3.5. Not only that, but the slight transitions in music are done very well. When Link is walking on Hyrule Field (in the day), an oboe is heard; when he mounts Epona, it immediately switches to trumpets. In Hyrule Castle Town, all 4 areas have the same tempo and the same basic tune, but different parts are brought forward. The main music is in North Castle Town; South Castle Town is the same as North, but adds what sounds like the jingle of a tamborine; West Castle Town switches to primarily bassoon music; East Castle Town primarily uses trumpets.

I dunno, I really disliked that about TP. I felt like the music could have been much more original, and I really didn't like the main theme of the game that much to begin with. Granted it sounded awesome on that symphony CD, but I feel like the TP soundtrack was kind of lazy in making the majority of the soundtrack include it rather prominently. That, and I thought the instrumentation was pretty bad, the worst in the series in fact. But that's just me; many people disagree with me, and that's fine.

[Ventus]

Still on Final fantasy 8. just hit disk 2 tonight. just headed under balamb garden to do somthing for Head master cid...(Havinga little trouble with the twin oil slugs <_< (Shouldn't have level up'ed to level 30...)

I've returned to Monster Hunter 3: Tri for now, also playing Skyrim and maybe play some more Xenoblade Chronicles in the future (Great game btw). Getting Diablo III for me birthday and will buy myself a copy of Torchlight 2 when it comes out.

Man is it that great game...Am I the only that don't have it yet? everytime I go to game stop its never there >_<
(I wish I had a copy right now...)

[Russ]

1. One thing that amazes me about TP is how it follows the classic Zelda 1 formula, but in a new and exciting way. What I mean is that it has 8 main levels with Ganon(dorf) at the end of level 9. Not only that, but you start out with a Wooden Sword! That hasn't happened since Zelda 1! (However, I never played MC, WW, PH, or the Oracle series, so I don't know if they had one.)

So I'm not the only one who saw that! When I played TP, the only other Zelda games I'd played were Zelda 1 and OoT (which, incidentally, was also 9 levels long), so I assumed every game in the series was set up that way. Didn't make the wooden sword connection thought (I blame OoT). On a side note, both Oracle games follow the same pattern, wooden sword and all.

3. One thing that I thought is awesome is the unity of music throughout the game. There is one musical rephrain in the Hyrule Field (day) music that is repeated in other areas of the game. It is heard in: Hyrule Field (day), Hyrule Field (night), Gerudo Desert, Snowpeak (which has more than one musical rephrain from Hyrule Field), and the Fishing Hole.

Hey, you're missing one! Give this song another listen and let your mind be blown. But yeah, I loved how TP did that. It made the world feel... connected somehow.

3.5. Not only that, but the slight transitions in music are done very well. When Link is walking on Hyrule Field (in the day), an oboe is heard; when he mounts Epona, it immediately switches to trumpets.

And this. This was also amazing.

And on a final note,

(However, I never played MC, WW, PH, or the Oracle series, so I don't know if they had one.)

Go play Wind Waker NOW. You don't know what you're missing.

[The Satellite]

https://www.youtube....h?v=R5T_fASNm9o

This was the only good song on that soundtrack, apart from Midna's Lament/Midna's Desperate Hour/whatever the hell they call that track. The final Ganondorf battle music was good too, but suffered from that poor instrumentation thing I mentioned.

[Nicholas Steel]

@Ventus: I got my copy of Xenoblade from www.zavvi.com

Edited by franpa, 30 April 2012 - 09:37 PM.

[Dawnlight]

I've returned to Monster Hunter 3: Tri for now, also playing Skyrim and maybe play some more Xenoblade Chronicles in the future (Great game btw). Getting Diablo III for me birthday and will buy myself a copy of Torchlight 2 when it comes out.

Oh Monster Hunter! I forgot I even have that game. I really need to get back into it. It was really fun when I played a few hours of it. If the 3DS version gets localized, then I might want to play that version instead.

[Nicholas Steel]

Oh Monster Hunter! I forgot I even have that game. I really need to get back into it. It was really fun when I played a few hours of it. If the 3DS version gets localized, then I might want to play that version instead.

It's really great though keep in mind the relatively short single player portion is specifically designed to set you up for the much more awesome (And difficult) online portion of the game. The 2nd half of the quests (Hunter Rank 30+) in the online portion are extremely good fun and a very real challenge.

Edited by franpa, 30 April 2012 - 09:41 PM.

[Radien]

Right now I'm replaying Dragon Quest IV. Again.

...Hey, at least I'm not replaying Twilight Princess or Shadow of the Colossus for the umpteen-hundredth time... >_>;

[Ventus]

@Ventus: I got my copy of Xenoblade from www.zavvi.com

I'll look at that online store, but I might not buy from there (I think it only accepts foreign currency) but I think I'll keep trying my local Gamestop. They too keep on calling every day till they get one in.

[Nicholas Steel]

Yeah it's a UK shop. If you're in America or something you won't be able to play it without making your Wii region free.

Edited by franpa, 01 May 2012 - 07:23 AM.

[Lightwulf]

As for your Wooden Sword query, this should answer that: http://zeldawiki.org/Wooden_SwordI dunno, I really disliked that about TP. I felt like the music could have been much more original, and I really didn't like the main theme of the game that much to begin with. Granted it sounded awesome on that symphony CD, but I feel like the TP soundtrack was kind of lazy in making the majority of the soundtrack include it rather prominently. That, and I thought the instrumentation was pretty bad, the worst in the series in fact. But that's just me; many people disagree with me, and that's fine.

Hey, TS!

Thanks for teaching me how to do this!

Also, thanks for pointing out that sword page to me.

Well, disagreements can happen. It's alright.

Hey, you're missing one! Give this song another listen and let your mind be blown. But yeah, I loved how TP did that. It made the world feel... connected somehow.
And this. This was also amazing.

And on a final note,
Go play Wind Waker NOW. You don't know what you're missing.

Thanks for pointing it out, Russ! It took me a while after reading this to realize that you were referring to the whistle tune in the background during the main song. I'd been so focused on how cool and wild-western this music was that I didn't even notice it was the same tune from Hyrule Field!
I love that tune, BTW. I've been trying to find a good excuse for using it in a quest. I even considered making a short test quest setting Link in a wild west shootout! (I haven't done anything with that, though.)

I don't think I can play Wind Waker. I only have a Wii and a computer. They don't have it on emulator, do they?

Edited by Lightwulf, 01 May 2012 - 11:43 AM.

[Jared]

Just got Pokemon White today! It's so fun. Got the first badge. Can't wait for more!