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#16 kurt91

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Posted 13 January 2013 - 12:09 AM

Cool, a game I've actually played!

I agree with you on most of your points. I've played the PS2/Wii version of Unleashed, as well as Generations, and I absolutely loved the levels and marveling at the environments. This game, however, simply ended up making me think "I want to go there. Why can't I see what's over there? I don't want to go this way, I want to go check out all the cool stuff." My favorite levels are Tropical Resort and Starlight Carnival, if only because they didn't make that thought come to mind so much. Even so, Starlight Carnival is more of a long massive cutscene then a level. I would have loved if they too more of an Egg Fleet route or something. I got the impression that these were just redecorated warships from one of Eggman's earlier schemes that he was trying to pass off as a parade, and would have loved to see creative ways of blowing it all up.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of the 2-D segments from Unleashed onwards. The controls dont' feel as natural and the physics are non-existant. I always end up just wanting to play the Genesis games after trying to get through those. Personally, I think that the next game should ditch the 2-D entirely and switch between Unleashed-style areas and more platforming-based Adventure-style areas instead in each level.

I wasn't a fan of the bosses. It just didn't feel right fighting something that wasn't Eggman, and the recycled boss set-ups just made me feel like I was re-playing a level I had already beaten. I did like the Starlight Carnival/Asteroid Coaster bosses, though. When I finally did get to fight Eggman, the fight was a lot of fun, but a bit anticlimactic. Every previous game showed a threat so dangerous that Sonic had to use the Chaos Emeralds just to stand a chance. This one was taken down without it, and the game's signature super-powered Sonic was only used for a single attack. It almost feels as though Eggman wasn't really trying.

On a different note, that Oolite emulator is very easy to figure out. If you'd like, I can give you the website or just send you a link to the emulator directly. The game in mind is a Zelda clone, it's just amazing how absolutely blatant it is about it. Level 1 gives you an armor upgrade. It's blue "armor", that looks like a tunic, and it makes your character change color to show the new outfit.

#17 The Satellite

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Posted 13 January 2013 - 12:45 AM

You're not the only one who disagrees with me on the bosses, but I honestly didn't mind them, especially the Sweet Mountain boss and its Aquarium Park rehash; I thought those were fun. But otherwise, yeah, I didn't really like this game, and I agree with your idea about destroying the fleet in Starlight Carnival; so much wasted potential in this game.

And if you wouldn't mind PMing me a direct link to the emulator's website, that would be great. Unless you'd rather post it here; emulators aren't considered illegal material, so there's no harm in posting that on the open boards. It's just the ROMs you should avoid linking to in public. icon_razz.gif

#18 kurt91

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Posted 13 January 2013 - 06:53 AM

I misread the name of the emulator. It's called "Ootake", not "Oolite". The homepage is all in Japanese or something, and I couldn't figure out where the actual download link was out of all that mess. The other place I knew of was the direct download from the ROM site that recommended it to me, but that's a no-no. Anyways, I made a quick MediaFire link for you.

Here you go!

Have fun!

#19 The Satellite

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Posted 18 August 2013 - 06:49 PM

So, I never intended to let this sit for seven months. Not sure exactly why I let this die out. But it's time to get back to work...
 
Pokémon Black and White
 
With the upcoming release of X and Y, there's no better topic for reviving this rant than these games! Sigh, these games embody everything that annoys me about the Pokémon series. And by that I mean the series' unwillingness to "evolve," har har. So many times I've heard people claim that this game managed to change up the gameplay of the series and add new twists, I've heard people rave about the "advancements in story"... Well, I had my doubts, but eventually I gave it a shot.

 

Trying to remember where I was leading up to the B/W announcements and news. It's been a while, so things have slipped my memory. I remember being curious about the new starters, then not caring for any of them except for Snivy who is genuinely adorable and awesome. Then, the more new Pokémon were announced, the more I felt turned off from the game, and just drifted away and stopped caring. Having shrugged away Generations III and IV, I don't know why I had any interest at all in B/W preceding their announcement. If anything, it was likely due to me just having bought and absorbed myself into SoulSilver, and thinking it was pretty cool and another game might be interesting. But apathy set in once more, and I ignored it.

 

I don't know what drove me to play the games. Well, game, as I chose White because I'm a racist bastard. It had something to do with the upcoming release of Black 2 and White 2, and the supposed references to Kanto and Johto made me interested in that so I decided I'd catch up on White and do White 2, and also thought it would be fun to keep up with others in a new Pokémon game again. Well, I played White, and I wasn't impressed. The game progression was exactly the same as it always had been, and the only "new element" I thought was neat was that the first gym had three leaders, and which one you fought depended on which starter you picked. Otherwise, all the elements from the past games are there, largely unchanged, only difference is the order of events; for instance, you only take on the leader of the evil team at the end of the game in lieu of the Champion, but that's hardly a major change. I quit playing during the postgame content; I was tired of the game at that point.

 

Black and White also made me irritated by taking away some of the advancements that HeartGold and SoulSilver put in. The most "minor" one is removing the follower Pokémon from those games; it may be a "minor" complaint, but I feel like that added another layer of immersion that Black and White were lacking. Then there's the menu layout, which was about perfect in HeartGold and SoulSilver, but was unnecessarily tweaked to be less fluid. The one thing I'm okay with is reusable TMs; I understand the argument that it takes away some strategic edge in who should get which ability, but it also means you don't have to gamble all day to get another copy of the same TM from the gaming corner.

 

Now, how about this excellent "story" that the games provided that is so light years ahead of the other games? ... sigh. It's really just another way to say "This game has more dialogue than the others." It really doesn't have that much more story than other games (and note that I haven't played Gen III enough to see the story or any of Gen IV). It's the same deal, evil Team Plasma wants to use Pokémon for their own goals, just with more dialogue. And some of their guys can teleport apparently. Sure, they try to pull a bit of intrigue with the character of "N," and he's a strange character, which I'm sure is the intent, but I feel they really don't develop him well enough. And again, yes, the climax comes at the end of the Pokémon League, except it's the Team leader you challenge, not the Champion; he comes later if you decide to rechallenge the League. Yet again, this really isn't that much of a change-up, at least not one to justify shouts of "THIS GAME REALLY SHAKES UP THE FORMULA."

 

Also, the game's pretty linear as hell, and lacks the big open exploratory feel of past games. Well, of the first two games; again, I don't know much about the third and fourth generation games as I haven't played far into Gen III and haven't touched Gen IV. But I didn't like feeling railroaded, and there weren't really any big, interesting free-exploration areas; the caves felt tiny in comparison to past games, and there weren't a lot of interesting areas on the overworld. People consider this game a step forward, whereas to me, it's a step backwards in many, many ways.

 

If you enjoy it, fine, whatever. It's not my thing, and I don't see any of the "advancements" so many people claim it has. I find that the Pokémon selection is generally pretty bland and boring, and there's really nothing new or interesting to change things up for me. I quit during postgame and never touched White 2. Yet here I am, preordering Pokémon Y, following the news until its release, when I should be the most skeptical person on the planet. But I wanted to see how Pokémon does in its first main series transition into full 3D, and play along with friends. My skepticism has been rising a little with nearly every new update, but we shall see. If I dislike that game, well, it was probably inevitable. Or hey, maybe I will enjoy it. We'll see. But Black and White? They just weren't for me, and personified every problem I had with the Pokémon series after Gold/Silver/Crystal. Maybe X and Y will be those Pokémon games that will renew my faith in the series, maybe it will be a later set of games, or maybe it'll never happen. Only time will tell.



#20 Moonbread

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Posted 18 August 2013 - 06:57 PM

inb4 comments like "nostalgia glasses" or "genwunners".  (Because I know they'll happen)

 

I think he makes some pretty good arguments, and I can't disagree with him entirely.  While I do like some of the Gen 5 Pokes a lot, the game is super linear and looking back, that was not the best decision, to me.  I don't exactly play Pokemon for the "story" so its presence didn't quite bother me, though how lame Plasma was, kind of did.  Effin' Patrat, man.  Everyone had Patrats.



#21 Avaro

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Posted 18 August 2013 - 07:01 PM

Well, you seem to be comparing the game to other pokemon games there with each of your point. I don't quite know what you are talking about all the time, because B/W is the only pokemon game I ever played so I don't know how others are better :P

 

I though the idea of the game was really really interesting but it got extremely boring because you often can't walk more than 4 tiles or so before the next battle comes up. It got really annoying and the battles are actually always the same. Pokemon would be much better if had real time action battles too.

 

Edit: So I basically suggest, don't compare the game to others too much with your next rambles! ;D


Edited by Avataro, 18 August 2013 - 07:07 PM.


#22 Moonbread

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Posted 18 August 2013 - 07:21 PM

To be fair it's been an incredibly popular series for the past two decades.  When it's the 5th generation, it's fair to say what it did wrong that the previous gens did right.


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#23 Haylee

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Posted 18 August 2013 - 11:02 PM

Oh god, Gen 5, my least favorite of the generations. It was the only pokemon game I lost interest in mid game.  Oh well, at least it's certainly harder than the other generations. Let us hope Gen 6 isn't a dissapointment.


Edited by Goriya, 18 August 2013 - 11:04 PM.


#24 kurt91

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Posted 19 August 2013 - 02:38 AM

I kind of agree on the story point. I played through it, and the whole time it just felt kind of dull. I mean, it's like they're just going through the motions at this point, and all the big advancements are all just graphical stuff. Compare Red/Blue/Yellow with Gold/Silver/Crystal. Suddenly you got a phone to call characters you had met along the way, Berries you could plant all over the place, and time-based events. It wasn't overly complicated, but you got a much more immersive feeling to the game. I loved the way it was set up, and even the simplest things were a lot of fun to do. I'd spend weeks on end trying to grow a good-sized crop of Berries to specifically counter status effects that I knew I'd have to deal with soon and wanted to save money over the store-bought counterparts, and I'd often spend long periods of time only turning on the game to give Kurt another Apricorn and pick up my new Poke Ball. (And given my age at the time, I thought it was hilarious we both had the same name)

 

Now, comparing that difference to the differences between Diamond/Pearl/Platinum and Black/White, and it's not much more than a bit of a graphics upgrade (and even then, it's only that they decided to move the camera around) and a bit of extra animation in battles. Other than that, it seems almost like the gaming equivalent of just phoning it in. I haven't played Black2/White2 (I want to replay the games I can't find and the spin-offs I missed like Colosseum, then use PokeSav to "import" my collection all into one game), so I can't speak on that one, but I'm hoping that X/Y do much better. Also, I want my plantable Berries back! The way they do it in HeartGold/SoulSilver really sucks.



#25 Nicholas Steel

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Posted 20 August 2013 - 05:01 AM

They need to get rid of the god awful 4 direction walking limitation. That is just infuriating!



#26 Russ

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Posted 20 August 2013 - 12:51 PM

They need to get rid of the god awful 4 direction walking limitation. That is just infuriating!

That's already confirmed gone in X/Y. :P

 

As for Black and White, I liked them. Were they as good as HG/SS? No, not really. They were way too linear, and didn't give you a lot of freedom. But honestly, I did like the story. There was a lot to it, especially if you read between the lines. It changed the formula up a bit. It was still basically the same, but they made little changes they'd never done before, so baby steps in the right direction (nevermind that they did a complete 180 with B/W 2).



#27 The Satellite

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Posted 20 August 2013 - 03:15 PM

Didn't really change much up, if anything. So there're little extra layers to the story. Those have always been there. :shrug:



#28 The Satellite

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Posted 18 October 2013 - 11:09 PM

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

With the newest installment of Ace Attorney less than a week away, I figured this would be the perfect game to rant about. And let me just start with this: It's actually a pretty good game. No, the problem with this game is not that it's a bad game, it's... something else entirely. A whole different set of issues, though, cropped up while I played this game, and this'll probably honestly be a shorter rant, but it's one I had planned when I had this thread in mind, and now's the best time to go through with it I think.

 

So this is the fourth entry in the Ace Attorney series, after three fairly successful entries. These games were known for their challenging courtroom challenges, unique and quirky characters, excellent story, and great music. Of course, they starred Phoenix Wright, the master of bluffing and finding all the chinks in his opponents' armor in order to expose the truth. He and his lovable companions made for a great team and a great cast of characters.

 

So of course the best thing to do for the next game would be to toss out every single one of them.

 

To be fair, I'm totally fine with the idea they were going for: Make a new game with new characters instead of reusing the same ones they have for three games already. But then the problem was they didn't stick to this. It's executive meddling, I hear, that's the cause of this, but it still kind of defeats the game's original purpose.

 

So we get a look at our new protagonist, the young Apollo Justice. He's eager, and arguably more levelheaded than Phoenix ever was. He's the apprentice of the ever-so-classy Kristoph Gavin, who joins you for your first case much like Mia did Phoenix's. But just as you begin to wonder what it'll be like playing this familiar gameplay with brand new characters, it turns out your defendant is none other than Phoenix Wright, accused of murdering someone. Maybe you're thinking, "Oh, it's just a neat cameo to bridge the gap," or maybe your thought is "Yay, this won't be so unfamiliar after all!" Well, if you're thinking the former, prepare to be disappointed, as they manage to get Kristoph on the stand and Phoenix stands beside Apollo, basically taking over the case and proving that Kristoph is the guilty party instead. From there, Phoenix becomes your mentor, and Apollo joins the Wright and Co. Law Offices, or, as it's now referred to, the "Wright Talent Agency." Which soon becomes the "Wright Anything Agency." 

 

So if this was just the backdrop, this wouldn't seem so bad, but we'll get back to that. Turns out, Phoenix has an adopted teenage daughter named Trucy, who appears to be a talented magician, known for her "magic panties" act. ... it's more innocent than it sounds, though they do play it up quite comically in the first actual case. And Trucy herself is... very, very bland. I can only assume that the intent was to make a replacement for Maya, but in the process she just seemed... very lacking in character, and only there as a plot device and just to be an assistant character. She really doesn't do much, and she isn't very interesting.

 

Fortunately, she's really the only uninteresting character here, as the rest of the game's cast is pretty enjoyable and fleshed out, and the cases are interesting. The rival prosecutor is a likable enough guy, though it wasn't until later I appreciated him a little more. He is, in fact, the younger brother of Kristoph, Klavier Gavin. He's no Edgeworth or Godot, but he holds his own fairly well, and hey, from the start he even cares more about finding out the truth than just winning, so that's really refreshing.

 

I'm supposed to be ranting, so I'll change course. Originally the goal was to make an entirely new cast and focus on that cast. They do... but they also tend to focus way too damn much on Phoenix. Not that it doesn't make for an interesting story... mostly. They really seem to have just thrown the entire cast of the original trilogy on a bus and also under the bus. There's a vague reference to the Feys and that's all you hear of the original cast. Other than the judge of course, but of course he's still around. But we hear nothing of Edgeworth, Gumshoe, or other old favorites. Well, not entirely true; Gumshoe appears in a flashback case that shows Phoenix's final case before he was disbarred, as forged evidence was planted on him courtesy of Kristoph. But that's all we get. And Phoenix... well, he's kind of a jerk. He pulls an intense and awesome gambit but some methods are kind of... not questionable, but almost out of character for him. You could argue maybe his character's changed a bit in those seven years, but all the material for Dual Destinies seems to show his personality as the same as ever, so I dunno.

 

But at least Apollo gets to shine and have his epic final battle just like Phoenix had multiple times throughout the trilogy, right?! Nope. Turns out they're now using a jury and they put Kristoph on trial in a test jury trial without Kristoph's knowledge. And it's Phoenix who dishes this final blow out, meaning he once again was the one who won the final battle. So basically, Phoenix Wright is the hero and defeated the villain... not the title character. It may have been a great story moment, but for gameplay, it was a letdown and once again defeats the whole point of creating an entirely new cast in the first place. What the hell, Capcom? Yeah yeah, I know, this isn't the first time they've stuck their noses in and changed the course of a game or series for the worst. But it's no less frustrating each time. Might as well have called this "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - The New Guy Doesn't Matter." No, they do give Apollo some background history, and it's fairly interesting, but it still tends to be more about Phoenix than it is about Apollo.

 

Not that I don't love Phoenix and I love his character and games more, but still, this wasn't supposed to be about him.

 

So, meh, that's Apollo Justice. Now don't get me wrong, it's a good game still, and has some clever cases and I really like the Perceive mechanic, but there are other intangible matters that just don't sit well with me. When you get down to it, this isn't really that strong a rant, but it's something I wanted to "rant" about since I thought up this thread. ... which was a while ago. But still. It's fairly good timing, since Dual Destinies continues the story from Apollo Justice. But yeah. There you go. I'll try to be a little more fiery in my next rant.



#29 Haylee

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Posted 18 October 2013 - 11:18 PM

You should probably slap a spoiler warning at the top of this before the rant starts, since it spoils most of the story. (Good thing I've already played AJ though. :3)



#30 The Satellite

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Posted 18 October 2013 - 11:21 PM

There's a warning in the first post that the rants will probably have spoilers. :blah:




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