FMW

This looks so exciting! I don't see anything particularly "new" here in the trailer, but I do see a combination of things I've liked in Resident Evils of the past. Leon Kennedy? Cool! Is that... Ashley the president's daughter? Awesome! And look at those old school gross zombies, much better than the RE 5 foes. I dig it. I guess the thing they showed that was farthest from RE norm was the new character who has magic blood or something and was killing zombies via kung-fu. It doesn't sound particularly compelling to me, but the jury will remain in session until more information is available. They really need to get new voice actors though. This wasn't NEARLY hammy enough for Resident Evil's lofty standards. Chris did okay I guess, his dialogue was stilted enough that he gets a pass. The other voice actors need to step it up!

I think it's a fair question that they're tossing back and forth. A video game "review" has the base purpose of informing a consumer whether investing in the software is a good investment. If you're going to write a deep insightful analysis into video game design, content, or philosophy then that doesn't necessarily inform consumers whether or not the game is something they should purchase. Reviews also have the function of showing a games merit to a publisher through metacritic. It's unfortunate, but it happens. Developers live and die based on metacritic scores. Carefully considered analysis of a product ("criticism") may well argue a negative point in regards to an overall great game or vice-versa. I don't think it does either the developer or publisher any good for numbers attached to criticism to muddy the metascore waters. Complex ideas can't be reduced to a number. Kotaku, actually, is WAY ahead of the curve here. Kotaku not only avoids numbers, but has been pushing more and more towards criticism in their reviews of late. With Stephen Totilo in charge now, I imagine they'll continue that trend. It wounds me somewhat that anything too smart, anything with too much thought behind it, doesn't have a place in the review ecosystem. But the linked articles make a fair argument that it doesn't. Why, I wonder, are video game enthusiasts so different from film snobs? Film snobbery is an almost academic matter - paying attention to cinematography, special effect construction, lighting, and a whole host of other elements that most consumers ignore. Video game snobs tend to be a different beast, concerned with competitive advantages, corporate maneuverings, and (shudder) metascores. The way that elitists of these two mediums separate themselves from the "casual" pedestrian is totally different. If criticism tackling more academic and cerebral matters existed, would more people concern themselves with those aspects of games? Would that be a good thing? By the way, this criticism DOES exist. It's all at kill screen. Visit it some time. Seriously.

And apparently I can't edit my previous post so I'll make a new one. Because yes, in 24 hours I beat ANOTHER game! This time it was Zelda Phantom Hourglass. It's not BAD exactly but... I think it's easily the worst Zelda game. My list is now: Bastion (twice! I love this game to death) Batman Arkham Asylum (100% riddler completion) Batman Arkham City (not 100% riddler completion, but I just finished it 5 hours ago. I'll get there.) Plants vs. Zombies (closing in on 100% completion) VVVVVV (as much clever level design in 3 hours as Skyrim has period) Zelda Phantom Hourglass (worst Zelda game ever)

I add to my list: VVVVVV! Bastion (twice! I love this game to death) Batman Arkham Asylum (100% riddler completion) Batman Arkham City (not 100% riddler completion, but I just finished it 5 hours ago. I'll get there.) Plants vs. Zombies (closing in on 100% completion) VVVVVV (as much clever level design in 3 hours as Skyrim has period)

I just got my first gaming PC ever so I can pull ahead to a really early lead this year because I have a huge Steam library that I've never been able to touch. Just in the past 7 days I have played and beaten: Bastion (twice! I love this game to death) Batman Arkham Asylum (100% riddler completion) Batman Arkham City (not 100% riddler completion, but I just finished it 5 hours ago. I'll get there.) Plants vs. Zombies (closing in on 100% completion) And there will be more to come! I'm currently in the progress of playing: Dragon Age Origins Shin Megami Tensei Digital Devil Saga 2 Shin Megami Tensei Devil Survivor None of which I have previously completed.

I mentioned previously that I pre-ordered Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 and Xenoblade Chronicles. I have now paid those two pre-orders off in full. It was expensive and there are other things I could (and maybe should) have spent that money on, but it feels really good not to have that expense hanging over my head. That's really the appeal of the pre-order system at Gamestop for me - being able to pay for the games I'm most interested in whenever I have money, so it doesn't matter so much if I'm hard up for cash when release rolls around.

I finished it at last! What a game. It'll take time for it to settle and for us to see how it holds up over time. Since most of the design is in how the levels are laid out though, I suspect that it will end up being pretty timeless. Good design never goes out of date (Mario vs. Donkey Kong on the GBA Ambassador list proves that emphatically). As far as the narrative goes, this game does some things I like and some things I don't. From here on out, Fi's theme (one of the better bits of music in this game) should be the theme of the Master Sword. If they sneak a remix of that in whenever I next discover the Master Sword, I'll probably tear up a little. As far as I'm concerned, it's Grooseland. Grooseland field, Grooseland castle, and Lake Grooselia. In Nintendo's ever changing spin on Zelda art, I hope they don't stay here. They can return to this if they want, but I hope this doesn't become the norm. That said, this game did one thing better than any predecessor, and I think that's faces. Most every NPC, even the unimportant ones, has a memorable face. I don't say this lightly, because Wind Waker had incredible faces, but I think these are even better.

My secret santa, Connorrrr, is a wonderful person who bought me a ton of gifts and made me feel like a cheapskate for only buying my giftee one. My giftee is GOH!, who's also a wonderful person for accepting my gift graciously and assuring me that I'm not a cheapskate I also think that this was a good idea, and second the motion to bring it back next year.

@Atom - no, BbS is the only Kingdom Hearts game I don't have the means to play @Mister Jack - I played Chain of Memories on the GBA cartridge and had no problems whatsoever with recycled elements Lol, and at the end of this game they'll end it with Xion waking up and the game says "and it was all a dream"

I have dropped some fat pre-order dollars at my local Gamestop. I have not yet completely paid these purchases off, that is on my to-do list for Christmas money should I receive any. I pre-ordered Xenoblade Chronicles for Wii, and Devil Survivor 2 for DS. I pre-ordered Xenoblade because it's a new IP from Nintendo and it's the kind of game I like to see in my marketplace. I'm buying it both to play it and to influence the market. I pre-ordered Devil Survivor 2 because the first Devil Survivor came up with a unique and fun spin on turn based strategy. Also because it'll be impossible to find approximately 6 seconds after release. Also, I reckon my DS deserves a hell of a send off, it's been a fantastic device for me. I plan to put aside the 3DS and play this game on the old faithful DS Phat I got in that first Christmas of the DS release.

Yep! We've had digital recreation copies, extraction of memory copies, and now we have new evil twin copies. What do you guys think they are? Clones? They haven't done clones yet. Ooooh, or what about time travel? Wait, this is set in some sort of dream world, right? I'll betcha it's nightmare Sora and Riku. Personally I'm holding out for parallel dimension/universe Then we could have alternate versions of ALL the characters, their nobodies, their memories, and their digital recreations. If you take this franchise lore seriously you're doing it wrong.

@Strangelove I challenge your statements about KH 2. KH 2 didn't have all new Disney worlds, many enemy types were recycled, and the combat was very similar to KH 1 with the exception of the addition of a "quick time event" button on Triangle. The leveling up system in KH 2 was the exact same AP based system as KH 1, which is really disappointing when you compare that to the interesting things Chain and Days did in this area. What assets do you see in this trailer that you recognize? Are you talking about level designs? Enemy types? Music?

I reckon it's time to make a thread for this game, because it's finally gotten the Square-Enix 8 minute trailer treatment. First, let's take a glance at the video. It's still the Japanese version, but I don't imagine the text would clear anything up even if it was understandable: Okay, what do we take away from this? I see: The full cast of The World Ends With You looks to have made it into this game. That's good! Especially Rhyme. There appear to be multiple Soras and Rikus running around now. That's bad. There's new Disney worlds! (Hunchback of Notre Dam, 3 musketeers, Tron Legacy) That's good. In a move that surprises absolutely nobody yet is still disappointing, it looks like a bunch of "dead" characters are coming back. A good chunk of the organization shows up in this trailer (if I'm right, I think only the folks who got killed off in Chain of Memories). This is bad. We've got some big characters bouncing around in this trailer, which suggests to me that the main story will actually move forward in this game. That's good. Looks like there are touch screen controls for certain special moves. That's... interesting. Not a direction I imagined they would go with here. I'm gonna call this bad because that's gonna kill the 3D effect like no other. Traverse Town is back. It wasn't in KH 2 and I like the music there. That's good. It looks like "diving" is the replacement for the Gummy ship this time around. Judgement will be withheld for now, but I haven't liked the transport minigames before so I have low expectations for this. Probably bad. End summary: It looks like a continuation of Kingdom Hearts. More convoluted, more recycled music, and more Disney tie ins. Nothing here looks like it would turn away KH fans, and nothing here that looks like it would make new converts. I now invite those "in the know" to make storyline predictions. Go crazy, because you know whatever you come up with will be less crazy than the real thing anyway.

Yeah, that's what I'm coming up with too. They've done racing, first person adventure, first person shooter (I just remembered Metroid Prime Hunters, they helped with that), pinball (again, they helped with Metroid Prime Pinball), and 2D platformer. And they've all been good or great. But I don't think that necessarily reflects on Zelda making ability in particular. All we can say is Retro has the talent and work environment to create good games. Would they make a good Zelda? Probably, they've never made that kind of game before, but why not? Same for Starfox. It would probably be good, but it would be a new style of game for them. End conclusion - A Retro Zelda would be good because at this point we have no reason to believe a Retro anything would be bad.

Retro hasn't made a bad game yet, they're 4 for 4 (5 for 5 if you count Mario Kart 7). Metroid Prime 3 had a few issues in my mind, but the overall experience was still a net positive. Would Retro make a good Zelda? I dunno, what's Retro good at? They make good graphics. They make good level designs. They make good art. They make good music. Metroid Prime 1 and 2 had good storytelling, but their other games didn't so much. Donkey Kong Country gets a pass for not having a story I guess. Donkey Kong shows that Retro can make different styles of game, old school and friendly as well as modern and intimidating. I dunno, one would think with a five game portfolio we would be able to identify more things descriptively Retro, but I'm really drawing a blank. They've adapted themselves to the different Nintendo franchises sent their way very well, and I don't see that they've injected any personality uniquely their own into the games. I can't tell a Retro developed Nintendo game from a Japan developed Nintendo game. Would they make a good Zelda? ....sure, why not?

Wow! They just added free soundtrack downloads to the Humble Bundle 4! That's great news! Why is that great news? Bit. Trip. Runner. The music reaches deep into my soul. Cave Story. The music is so good I don't even care that it's chiptune (which I normally dislike) Does Cave Story + have new music does anyone know? I mean, beyond the original release? Did they remix the soundtrack again? Already there's the original soundtrack, the WiiWare remix, and the 3DS remix.

Today I slapped down a pre-order for Xenoblade Chronicles. I know it's a little bit silly to pre-order so early, but I saw this article and it inspired me to move quickly: http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rumor/28666? The gist of it is 1. The Last Story can happen if this does well 2. Xenoblade Chronicles pre-orders aren't doing so hot so far 3. Gamestop approached Nintendo about localizing this game. Weird :/

Spoilers from near the end of the game (I think): I still haven't finished the game! I haven't experienced the sort of fatigue playing you guys described, but the idea of clearing more than one dungeon in a Zelda game in a single sitting is kind of foreign to me anyway. I guess I don't do marathon sessions quite so long as some other players. A single dungeon normally takes me two play sessions to clear, let alone all the business in between them.

Since the remake still is only going out on Playstation devices, does this count as a Playstation thread or a multi-platform thread? Anyway, this game was a major release and it is linked with strong memories for many. Not necessarily positive mind, but strong. I would love to have a discussion about the game and what you would like to see changed or unchanged in this new release. My personal wishlist is below: Things that ought to be changed: Give us a hub (probably in the airship) where we can check on side quests and optional content. Don't force this on players! The hardcore fans would be horribly offended. But much of the optional content in FF X was pretty obscure. I reckon ultimate weapon hunting is nigh impossible without a guide of some sort. Just build in an optional in-game tool for people who want to spend more time with the game but don't know what's available. Help us find hidden movie spheres, hidden airship map locations, and whatever endgame goodies may be tucked away. The weapon/armor and aeon crafting systems need a revamp. It was entirely possible to play the entire game without ever touching those sub-systems. Don't cut them, but it would be nice if you could make them more relevant. Make a better tutorial for these systems too. The battle music should change, but not be replaced. Hire some of the original composers to make one or two additional battle themes to play during random encounters. Then just let the battle themes cycle randomly. Again, I know that the original battle theme got a lot of flack, but DON'T cut it completely. I think it'll hold up much better when that same brass fanfare isn't coming up every single battle. Please add in whatever additional content was created for re-releases. I think there was an international edition or something? Just make sure that this is definitive. Things that could be changed but don't necessarily need to be: Now that you know about FF X-2 and it's contributions to continuity, there's no harm in tying it in here. Don't go changing the main story at all, but adding some flavor NPC text or a side quest or two referencing Vegnagun and/or other X-2 characters/places/technology/fashion would be cool for fans of the sequel. Again, make sure that this is all optional content. The sphere grid could change. Don't move away from the Sphere Grid mind, but you might want to redraw the layout. The sphere grid was actually quite linear until late in the game. All the twists and turns in it did a pretty good job of making it not FEEL linear, but that won't work as well a second time. Again, don't go crazy and overboard here, but adding more branching paths and perhaps forcing players to make choices about which abilities to pursue could enhance the game considerably. Also, buffing Kihmari's path a little wouldn't hurt a bit. Spell/ability balancing could change. As often happens in these later FF games, some of the legacy spells don't quite fit in the new battle systems so well. Spells like Death, Demi, and others really don't get used... ever. And some others only rarely (shell, I'm looking at you). I would suggest trying to rebalance spells with their power and MP cost so that they're more useful/viable in regular random encounters. That would make LuLu a much more fun and dynamic character, and perhaps give more merit to Kihmari's blue magics as well. Things that should not be altered: The main story. Don't change the dialogue, the event sequences, the bosses, none of it. You guys hit on something pretty special with this game. It's well paced, difficulty doesn't spike for the most part, and forshadowing is used subtly enough that players aren't entirely exhasperated by it. For video game storytelling, this main quest is about as good as it gets. I'm not saying that it couldn't be improved, but since it's so good already changes I think would be far more likely to detract from the original than to add. Just keep completely hands off of the narrative. The dub. There has been much complaint about the FF X dub since it released. Don't pay any attention to it. It would be expensive to record new voice over, and it would make fans (the most likely audience for this game) very unhappy. Love it or hate it, the voices in this game helped define it. The voices hold a ton of nostalgia, as this was one of the first story driven games to have so much cinematic and vocal content. Yes, Tidus sounds nasally sometimes. Yes, Riku does a terrible job of selling the "you know?" tacked on to the end of her lines. But that's become part of the game. It would be fundamentally distasteful to release a new version of a character focused tale with impostors hired to be the characters. You could add Japanese audio tracks now since there's so much space on these new game discs I guess. That would give even the nay-sayers a reason to buy the game. Blitzball. Blitzball is a super duper fun diversion, and for those who don't like it it's optional. Not many games have optional mini-games this extensive. Though I wouldn't mind terribly if you made it impossible to recruit Wakka in this new version - having him return to blitzball kinda breaks his story.