FMW

I'm so sorry. Not only is he indispensable for his thieving skills (can open any door or treasure chest without a key) but I really like his dialogue. Unfortunately, the support conversations with the two pegasus knights (who would be my preferred pairings) are discussions of food and laundry respectively. He deserves better. Tharja I'm somewhat less attached to, but she's so useful combat wise that she's getting plenty of battle time anyway. Leveling her support with Nowi for now until I decide what to do with her.

Who are you folks pairing Gaius with? I really like him, and I really like his supports with Chrom, but I can't seem to find a suitable female. I may end up having him marry one of the Pegasus Knights just because of the tactical power of that pair zipping around the map.

I imagine that there will be a new marketing push leading into the holiday season, as opposed to trying to boost console sales through these next few months where there are still no releases of note. That would just be kinda throwing good money after bad I think. Better to let the enthusiasts continue to doomsay until August/September and then try to pull a 3DS.

I feel like that's something they should have done right at launch. I mean, it's not hurting anything to do it now, but there certainly would have been more impact trying to make this part of the larger launch push.

I would actually like a good answer to this question. An economics answer. So if a company's stock value plummets the people hurt are the investors and the employees with stock options. It also hurts the company's ability to raise new revenue through selling stock. But... that's all I know of, and it seems like those things shouldn't keep a company from continuing to operate relatively normally in the short term. I'm pretty sure I'm wrong, but that's as far as I understand the matter. What don't I know?

Nintendo always ignores commentary. They don't pander to fans the way Capcom does, they don't try to manipulate coverage the way EA does, they don't make sequels to games that didn't sell well but found a niche the way Square Enix does. They, as an organization, are incredibly arrogant in their belief that they have the employees both on the creative and business side that are so good that they don't need to play by anyone else's rules. They can do their own hardware, release games at their own price structure, and delay their games as long as they damn well please. Just recently they've decided that they don't need to do the whole mainstream E3 press thing. They want to do their product messaging their own way through their own productions, so they're separating from tradeshows more and more. So how do we feel about this? Journalists and fans seem to think that Nintendo should listen to journalists and fans more. There are clear and obvious weaknesses in Nintendo's current business, and whenever those rear their heads the internet shudders with a chorus of "I told you so!" as these demographics claim that if only they had been catered to more specifically and their desires pandered to, this would not have happened. And they aren't always wrong. Indeed, I'm sure folks will be more than happy to list ALL the ways that Nintendo has messed up when straying from the desires of this corner of the internet. There are quite a few. However, Nintendo is not dying a slow death because they ignore conventional wisdom. Just as their mistakes come from ignoring obvious paths forward, so too do their successes. And it should be remembered that they are shockingly successful. They're the single biggest video game software developer AND publisher in the world. Their games sell very well, continue to be held in high esteem internationally, and despite the internet crying out that Nintendo is just rehashing sequels nobody wants... the sales clearly show that these are sequels that people DO want. Millions of people. They've survived, thrived, and expanded this past hardware generation during a period when so many other companies in the market went out of business. This previous fiscal year where they didn't make money was the first time they didn't make money in a fiscal year in decades. This year they made money again. Does the peanut gallery really know so much better than these guys? Do we, internet dwellers, really assume the knowledge to make this company even bigger and more successful than it has been and is? Do we not look back at the launch of the Nintendo DS, the Nintendo Wii, and the Nintendo 3DS and remember how all three of those hardware launches similarly signaled the end times for the company? I think it's incredibly arrogant to look at the scale of achievement Nintendo has found through ignoring journalists, enthusiasts, and fans and say "But no, this time we really DO know better". I think if Nintendo's staff and management is just left to do their thing and continue ignoring outsiders, they'll continue to make obvious mistakes and make really weird decisions and continue to be super duper successful. Just like always.

You're point is well taken. I rephrase my statement to "Nintendo rarely, if ever, shows evidence that the considerations of the sort of core gamer who hangs out on websites like this are a priority for them." So the notion Cowboy presented that Nintendo really should have been paying closer attention to what was being said about their hardware on the internet struck me as incredibly unlikely to ever happen. I certainly didn't mean to defend the marketing campaign they're running specifically. Not only am I not qualified to speak of such matters (yet) but clearly the results haven't been positive.

Everyone (being enthusiasts on the internet), universally, told Nintendo that the name Wii was bad too. Point is, they always do their own thing regardless of public opinion. When they're wrong everyone's all "I told you so" and when they're right they get to be smug as fuck.

What?? Zelda has a new look and the internet doesn't like it? I'm shocked.

Oh yeah, that would fit with the whole Dark World thing Link to the Past had going on I suppose. Okay, maybe it'll be that and not the talking brick idea. maybe. Edit: I propose that a forum moderator surgically remove the last page or so of this thread and post it into a new thread titled "Jesus console wars are obnoxious aren't they?" This can be a dumping point for all future outbursts of anti-company sentiment from other threads too.

Fi was a huge bummer. But Zelda in Spirit Tracks went beyond being decent to being something that actually made the game better. Midna was decent. Linebeck was lame. King of Red Lions was awesome. Basically, I see no pattern. Toss up on if we get a good sidekick or not. Maybe our helper will be an talking brick, since we turn into a cave painting now. I would be down with that. Magical Brick Powers? Yes please.

Honestly I'm hoping that part of being Link to the Past 2 is that the story is going to basically not be there. There definitely needs to be more player guidance in this than was in the original, but ideally they can provide that without a ton of plot/exposition. I feel like a traditional narrative is not part of the Link to the Past appeal.

This gimmick looks better than some. The best Zelda gimmicks are the ones that integrate into the dungeon crawling and exploration. Flying a bird around in Skyward Sword wasn't that great because it was this different thing you did in the designated flying zone. Turning into a wolf wasn't cool for the majority of Twilight Princess because they didn't start making up puzzles that required going back and forth until the very end of the game. For the most part, it was just this separate thing bolted on. You had a Zelda game and occasionally you had to stop to play a wolf level. But shrinking down to tiny in Minish Cap WAS cool, because the shrinking was intrinsically part of the entire game. Same for the terrain changes in Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons. Just from the trailer, Link turning into a cave painting is more the good kind of gimmick that's part of the Zelda experience than it is the bad kind of gimmick that gets built onto the exterior of the Zelda experience. I don't foresee separate cave painting levels. What's MORE exciting is that this is a top down Zelda (good), played with buttons (good), and uses an art style that is neither Wind Waker nor Twilight Princess. It's past time we moved beyond that dichotomy.

I just finished this game! My thoughts are: 1. The Disney levels in this game are unusually good. Fantasia is probably the single best level in the franchise. Great visual and audio design. 2. Did anyone ever doubt that Kingdom Hearts, so well known for it's convoluted nonsense narrative, would take advantage of the dream theme to pull some multi-layered Inception nonsense? But I was impressed when they went beyond dreams within dreams within alternate realities and threw in Time Travel too. In Bioshock Infinite I hated this, but in Kingdom Hearts it's not even close to being good so it's something I laugh at as opposed to something I'm disappointed in. Totally awesome. 3. Dream Eaters are an interesting idea, and they solve the problem Kingdom Hearts has had for a long time in just recycling the same heartless enemies over and over. Unfortunately, I feel like they aren't integrated into the game as party members terribly well. Every time I went into the Dream Eater menu the music and incredibly garish designs made me feel like I was going into a different game that I didn't like as much. I feel like there are too many dream eaters and they get skills too slowly. You know, unless you wanna spend a TON of time feeding them and poking them and poking balloons at them. It becomes clear just how unimportant Dream Eaters are to the core of the combat design with the last few bosses. For me at least, they might as well not have been there. 4. Square Enix said this game was supposed to move the narrative forward. I say it does not. It has been clear ever since Birth By Sleep that the arc is going to be that Sora does a magic heart thing and brings back all the protagonists of the games released since KH 2 (and possibly a few NPCs besides) and then they all get together and beat the evil bad guys in the biggest multi-stage boss battle ever. What this game achieves is getting the characters to a point where they're kinda aware of that eventuality. Not doing it, not finding out how to do it... but at least that's kind of their gameplan. Which would be okay, except everyone already knew that was the gameplan. They spent an entire game getting the characters caught up with the players.

You should start with Minish Cap. That's my go-to answer for this question regardless of hardware. Luckily, it also happens to be a Game Boy Advance game. Here's the deal: Minish Cap is the best rendition of the Zelda formula. Other games try weird things sometimes. Sailing in one of them, turning into a wolf in another, playing a Zelda game on a 1 hour time limit in another... these experimental games can be totally excellent, but they aren't where you start. You should start with the most polished, modern example of the design that defines this franchise. That's the Minish Cap. I honestly believe the only problem of any note with The Minish Cap is that it doesn't mix things up a ton for the Zelda enthusiast... but for someone like you without any background it's just going to be 12 hours of amazing. Pure, concentrated amazing. I actually wrote a giant column about why Minish Cap is the best Zelda game in May. If you want I can paste that in here. But I'm going to assume you have better things to do with your time than read all that inside baseball Zelda talk, this is the short and dirty version: Minish Cap. You need it.

Changing your system's internal clock to manipulate your Animal Crossing town is a tradition passed down since the game released for the Gamecube. I recommend just bumping your system forward three hours or so. The time that Nook goes to sleep is a really weird mechanic too. Not only because it puts a hard limit on when you can play the game, but as you progress the store eventually upgrades and expands operating hours. So you unlock the ability to play the game for 17 hours of the day, then 19, then I think eventually all 24. It's a bizarre thing to bar behind an unlock. Lastly... FUCK YEAH! Animal Crossing is a game better for LEFT handed people! LEFT handed people! I have suffered through sub-optimal left handed controls in Zelda, in 999, in Metroid, in Kid Icarus... the DS (and particularly 3DS) are NOT friendly to lefties. I DESERVE this. Suffer Deanb, suffer my pain and inconvenience! ...also, maybe consider just moving over to straight touch control. That's how I always play it, and then it doesn't matter which hand you're using at all.

Oh yes. Animal Crossing has actually had online multiplayer going all the way back to Wild World on the DS. It's not the most active multiplayer in the world, but if you find someone you can trust not to cut down all your trees (which is the WORST thing in the world) it's fun. I don't know how that's been expanded for New Leaf on the 3DS, but I'm sure there'll be something there.

Jesus, you've built up that library pretty damn quick! Super dumb Monster Hunter 3DS doesn't have online play, because we totally could have done that. Guess that'll need to wait for Monster Hunter 4 next year. I did play Tri on the Wii though, I do kinda like the franchise. We'll make it happen someday. I don't own Luigi's Mansion yet, I've only borrowed a friend's. You should own it - it's great. I'll own it before the end of the month. It's too bad most of the big 3DS games on the horizon aren't multiplayer. I've got pre-orders down on both Mario and Luigi: Dream Team and SMT, but we can't play those together. Animal Crossing though... have you ever played an Animal Crossing before?

Hey WaS, which 3DS game(s) do you own? Anything with online play that we might both own?

That's really a Kingdom Hearts staple though, having boss fight difficulty spikes. Remember in Kingdom Hearts 1 when you fought against Riku and suddenly needed to perfectly block a sequence of his attacks just to get an opening even though you haven't had to use the block at all through the rest of the game? Remember in Chain of Memories when you hit Captain Hook and suddenly need to be able to pull out Zero cards to cancel combination attacks despite all the lead up combat requiring nothing more than mashing attack? Or back to Kingdom Hearts 1 again when you fight that giant shadow gargoyle thing near the end and suddenly need to use magic effectively, despite that being unnecessary all through the first 25 hours of that game? I'm not saying that this should be permissible or acceptable, but maybe it shouldn't be a surprise?