FMW

Okay, I've FINALLY finished this game. I kinda stalled out right at the end there. I actually have some issues with this game - I think a lot of the cases are pretty dumb. The writing contorts in goofy and unsatisfying ways to incorporate the special lawyer abilities of whoever you're playing as. The second case is a BUMMER of an "Ace Attorney greatest hits" retread with it's possession and summoning stuff (except not as good). One of the best new characters is shuffled out of the franchise at the end of the game. But here's the thing - AA 5 still leaves me with some optimism for the future of the franchise. This game takes care of an awful lot of ground work. The transition to 3D models works super well. The transition out of chiptune music works super well. The new status quo at the end with three distinct lawyers working together at the agency is a fantastic jumping off point for future installments. The character of Phoenix himself is actually evolving into more of a veteran father figure with the two youngsters taking turns being whipped by hot new prosecutors. So the fact that the case logic and court writing can be really dumb in this game is bad... but that doesn't mean that the next game will be dumb! The really good writer who did the original trilogy of these was busy with Ace Attorney vs. Professor Layton while AA 5 was in production, so if they tell me that they're making an AA 6 with that guy back on board I am 100% behind that project.

Okay, I've now finished the game, picked up the 100 squid babies, and collected all the augments. Maybe not Pojodin thorough, but thorough. Hits: It looks really good. No it doesn't look good in trailers. Or screenshots. But it looks really good when you're playing it. And better in 3D. Whenever the screen would freeze for a second because I'd killed a boss or something I'd be struck "Hey, this frozen frame of play actually looks really sharp!" And the internet says the framerate is good for the people who care about that sort of thing. It's something different. This Zelda is one part Link to the Past, and one part entirely new ideas. Almost zero parts contemporary Zelda design. For those who want Zelda to be different, this is. Dungeon Design. Is there even a point in putting this down for a Zelda game anymore? There hasn't been sub-par dungeon design in one of these since Phantom Hourglass, and before that not since Link's Awakening. The dungeons are shorter than normal, but they're compressed little bites of goodness. They all take some idea and run with it to be unique. Spirit Tracks was all about the partner play? That's just one dungeon here, introduced and thrown away in the space of an hour. Same for shadow illusions. Same for stealth. Ideas in this game are introduced, explored, and forgotten in less time than it would take Skyward Sword to finish the tutorial on the concept. Wall Walking. So the LttP world map does NOT measure up to modern Zelda map design. It has about as much personality as the gameboy color worlds, not even getting close to the vibrance and variation found on Zelda N64, Gamecube, or especially Gameboy Advance. The LttP world is just... there are a lot of cliffs. A LOT of cliffs. I would be interested to see what percentage of the screen real estate on the LttP map was just layer cake cliffs. Anyway, this game found a gimmick in wall walking that allows the designers to integrate complicated and multifaceted puzzles into the LttP map without altering it. Make no mistake, without wall walking this game falls apart. Misses: Short. People seem super enthused about all the things that have been cut from this Zelda, but all those cuts leave a WAY smaller experience behind. I'm not just bitter about the dollars per hour value ratio, but it honestly affects how the game feels. It's like Zelda in a backyard. The quest feels like Link could have knocked it out in an afternoon or two. Ganon's getting put to rest almost as soon as he got out. The sages weren't trapped all THAT long... a couple hours tops. This isn't a journey, it's a jog around the block. Characters. Zelda games have the BEST NPCs. No joke. Starting with Ocarina of Time, each installment has populated Hyrule (or wherever) with unique and memorably designed characters. No crowds of generated random strangers here (with one weird exception in Twilight Princess), instead the worlds are filled with individuals with names and relationships with other characters and probably a side quest or two. This game does not. This game uses sages similar to how Ocarina of Time did, but the difference between the characterizations is night and day. No future Zelda is gonna feature stained glass windows of THESE sages - I don't even remember all (any of) their names. There are no creepy running postmen in this game, Beedle the shopkeeper is replaced by faceless randoms. Zelda herself is not the partner from Spirit Tracks, the love interest from Skyward Sword, the enigmatic associate from Wind Waker, or the grown ruler from Twilight Princess. She's reverted to her SNES characterization - and that's emblematic of every character in the game. Small world. It's okay to have a small world in a Zelda game, as long as it doesn't FEEL small. I indicate Minish Cap. That game is probably the next smallest Zelda world after Link to the Past, but it has a ton of discrete zones populated by different people and assigned different music. There are still new places to discover and unlock hours into the game. By comparison this overworld is smaller, looks and sounds the same most places, and there's zero attempt to give even an illusion of scale. Conclusion: I HOPE LAPSED ZELDA FANS ARE FUCKING HAPPY WITH THIS. You got what you wanted. Tutorials are cut. Guidance is cut. Pretty much anything that would distract from slicing monsters and delving through dungeons has been cut. What's left behind is this tightly designed essence of Zelda that loses not only the bad that had come since LttP, but also the good. I hope this ISN'T the future of Zelda. I want Zelda to have characters, I want Zelda to try to tell a story, and I want Zelda to add to it's musical heritage instead of rolling around in remixes. I want Zelda to take WAY longer to play through than this game. People celebrate that so much artificial "gating" has been cut from this Zelda, but the obstacles that hold Link back and the things he has to do to overcome them are what give structure to the games and allow for any sense of pacing, difficulty scaling, or storytelling. You cut all that and you're left with a core of a game with nothing to remember about it once the big pig monster is chopped up. But Zelda is a fundamentally good franchise, and the fundamentals hold. Even without any of those things I listed above, the game remains fun. But only that. Fun.

I haven't found those. I figure to get them I probably need to beat that 75 second footrace, but I've tried three or four times and always come up about 5 seconds short. Tried cheating with fast travel once, but the game caught that and said that cheating isn't allowed

I beat the fire turtle who had defeated me. Staying away and plinking away with the bow was my winning strategy. When he's half dead and bites you twice that's two hearts gone EACH. It's brutal. I only HAVE seven. So I just didn't ever get close. Kinda cheesing, but I wasn't losing all my items again. Then I got all up in Death Mountain. That is an AWESOME dungeon up there. Very very fun design. Again, pretty hard though. Very easy to fall all over the place. Climbing dark world death mountain is pretty grueling. I don't even want to imagine trying to get through this without the upgraded shield able to block the magic projectiles everywhere. Unfortunately, I then got jumped by an assault squad of ducks and it took me all my fairies just to get as far as I had gotten. That's the kind of room that's in this game that I don't like. I went in at zero fairies but almost full health. Then all the ducks appear and rush me. The shield blocks damage but doesn't knock them back so it isn't really helpful. They just stick around and circle me. The fire rod is really good for knocking them back but it's too slow! They're super fast ice ninja ducks. So I try to put my back to a corner and just knock them all back with super fast sword swings... no dice. There's a giant ninja ice duck too and it just gets on top of me and I can't get it off. Death. Items gone. LONG climb to get back and even take another shot. Really what I wish is that there could be a summersault to move and accelerate like in Minish Cap. The lack of that quick reposition is driving me nuts. It's a really bad game for running away. ...and it's a game where more than in any Zelda in recent memory I find myself wanting to run away. Often. Edit: It's BIZARRE when I get frustrated with Zelda so I got to Etrian Odyssey instead. But I'm way less likely to get jumped and suddenly die in a bad combo in that game.

Really? Too easy? I've been having dying problems and am NOT happy about them. I just got into Lorule and everything takes a ton of hits and the boss of the first dungeon I found wiped me out easy. I started with Zelda after Link to the Past so I have no fondness for this old school design. This is definitely harder than any Zelda released in the last 15 years: just how hard do you want this franchise to get?

I think it'll be good, because Monolith makes good JRPGs. I mean, they aren't always good at all things, but Monolith JRPGs are always really good at at least one thing. Baten Kaitos had music and combat. Xenosaga had characters and music. Xenoblade had scale and music. Soma bringer never left Japan because there is no god but they had Mr. Mitsuda do the soundtrack so it had at least music. Now that I break it down, I guess Monolith Soft JRPGs are always good at Music and one other thing.

Thank you much

Hey guys! I fell off the Doctor Who train a season or two ago. Amy Pond was lame, River Song was lame, Stephen Moffat's big season long mysteries were lame, and Matt Smith's excellence wasn't enough to keep me going. But now I understand Matt Smith is out and somebody new is in. There was a big anniversary special, there's a series of audio stories starring the 8th doctor which resolved in Night of the Doctor, and in the last episode of the last regular season there was this big reveal of the SECRET DOCTOR. So I wanna get back into Doctor Who now, but I have NO idea what's going on and what's good and where I can watch/listen to things to get caught up. Could one of you Doctor Who fans please break down what's good, what's not good, what's important to the ongoing story, and where I can find what I need?

And it's still a good game. I'm liking it. It has been previously established that Nintendo can still make fantastic Zelda games even when the aesthetic direction runs contrary to the desires of the internet. It's kinda weird how every review is from the perspective of someone who's played LttP though. I haven't.

IT IS ACE ATTORNEY DAY. REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL. IT IS ACE ATTORNEY DAY IN NORTH AMERICA. Go buy AA 5 from the 3DS eShop. Do it. Do it right now. This franchise is on the very brink. Once we received every installment promptly and in cartridge form. Now days are different... we live in dark times. This Ace Attorney game only made it over as a digital download. The last one didn't make it at all. The security of our future Ace Attorney goodness is in jeapordy. Secure it. Go do some buying. Will post more later once I've played - game is currently downloading.

Got back into Pokemon today what with everyone talking about it again... back into my copy of Pokemon White that is. That wild pokemon battle theme is still really good guys! I'm slowly, inexorably marching towards completing my Pokedex for that region. The Cowboy Poet helped me out with some specific rares already, and now I'm just needing to level up my other starters, my egg pokemon (which is just AWFUL still at level 28), Zoruark, and my second fossil pokemon (named BIRDIEFEMALE by a spiteful trader friend of mine).

Nope, it's a complete luck of the draw kind of deal. In the previous installment (Strange Journey) you could kinda learn what each demon wanted to hear (I mean, after 3 playthroughs. It's still pretty random) but I'm 1.5 times through SMT IV and still have NO feel for the negotiation. The rule I follow is to only ever chat up the last demon alive in a group, so that if/when things go south damage is minimal.

Well, Agility is an option. You definitely need to prioritize one of the first 3 stats, and then make sure you're inheriting skills that compliment those. So spells for magic, agility for needle shot/grand tack/whatever gun type skills you find, and strength if you wanna pick up physical attacks like lunge/madness nails/tetanus cut. You need to be really good at ONE of those options and have your stats and skill in sync with that choice. I've done dexterity with a lot of gun damage moves, and it worked really well for me. Gun block and reflect aren't too common an issue. I'm currently doing magic and it's really strong... but I have way more issues running out of mana and using up all my skill slots (since you want all four elements, some healing, and maybe some ma- spells too. ALL those things are based on the Magic stat.). All three offensive specializations are viable though. Just pick one, put a ton of points into it, and keep the last two stats (Luck and Agility?) respectable. Those are useful/necessary to have regardless of how you hit bad guys.

Yes! I am your guy - I am resident SMT enthusiast. SMT IV is absolutely brutal for the first 20 levels. It's honestly a flaw in the game - it's just kind of mean. You must save and save often. The game's only kindness is that it lets you have complete control over what skills are inherited by your minions. You need to prioritize keeping multiple healers and posumudi handy. Other anti-ailment techniques are of limited utility, but you are going to be spending time walking across poison floors. It sucks. Be prepared. Then you've also gotta figure out how you're building your protagonist. Remaining evenly balanced is not a path to victory in this game, you need to choose either strength, agility, or magic and get a lot of points in that. My first time through I maxed Agility and made sure my hero was inheriting gun type skills over and over (needle strike, etc). I'm currently partway through a second run focusing on Magic and I think it's way harder. I've found early App investments into walking MP regen to be absolutely vital. Increasing your demon stock is also necessary, though you can ramp that up slowly. Just don't leave it entirely forgotten! You almost never have enough money to upgrade to each new set of equipment that shows up in the shop. Don't worry too much about missing a set. Never sell your old armor once you upgrade, make sure you always keep one set back. That way if you run into a boss who uses attacks your current armor is weak to you have a fall back option. Only once a set is 2 upgrades back then it's safe to sell it. If you get lost in the overworld, just use the included strategy guide. The overworld map is pretty rotten in this game and it's completely possible to wander into areas that are not level appropriate. And even if you don't wander into instant death, it's also easy to wander around not finding what you're looking for and not having fun. Just find a map or a FAQ or something.

I didn't mind the grabby hands so much - wallmasters in Ocarina of Time were the same concept but WAY scarier since you couldn't see them but their shadow and they had that long swooshing sound effect. The Windwaker Zombies though... those were brutal. Took the Ocarina of Time idea of freezing you in place while they slowly walk forward and enhanced it with a better scream, a zoomed in camera angle making you see them get closer and closer and CLOSER, and a very VERY scary face.

I'm gonna change my nominations. I apologize for whatever inconvenience this causes. Assassin's Creed 2 is out, Call of Duty 4 is in. Sure AC 2 is the moment that AC became what it was always meant to be and turned into a special kind of experience... but CoD 4 changed the industry. Straight up.

There's a new trailer for Zelda: Link to two Worlds. The dark world is called Lorule. You know, because it's the opposite of High Rule. I was a little bit surprised to read comments complaining about the nomenclature. I mean, yeah, it's a silly pun... but this is Zelda. Also prominently featured in this trailer is an evil clown villain and Link knocking himself silly running into a wall. The shopkeeper is cosplaying as dark world link from LttP - so yes, it's a rabbit costume. To all those who disapprove of silly puns and slapstick and animal outfits, Zelda is not for you. Zelda has not been for you since Majora's Mask. Zelda has embraced a personality distinctly unlike epic fantasy. It is more like... tiny fantasy. As small as Elder Scrolls is big. Level design instead of open world. 20 or 30 NPCs per game that are individually designed instead of hundreds who are interchangeable. Little silly bits of happy personality. God, Zelda fans are an annoying bunch. Don't appreciate what they have.

Minecraft Wii Sports Assassin's Creed 2 I think the case for these is pretty obvious. Minecraft and Wii Sports inspired entirely new schools of thought about game design. Assassin's Creed 2 was the moment the most successful new IP of the generation became something special.

I finished SMT IV today. I mostly like the game. The environment design, combat design, creature design, and interface design are all absolutely top notch. It's also a very well produced game - it manages to convey epic scale and tell a pretty ambitious story without having too much money lavished on it. 2D sprites, talking heads, and 2D art stills are how this game rolls but it doesn't at all suffer for it. However, I'm not a huge fan of the characters or the overall narrative premise. I also don't much care for how they handled sidequests. The overworld map design is a HUGE bummer. Those problems aren't enough for me to dislike the game though. There are long stretches (5+ hours at a time) where those problems don't appear at all and I forget that this isn't my favorite game in the world. I secured the "law" ending but definitely intend to reach at least one more.

I would be really interested to see this reviewed by some people outside of the enthusiast video game press. I'm not sure it really makes sure to review it by the criteria most games are reviewed. Controls? Simple and minimalist. Player agency? Limited. Game balance? Non existant - the obstacles the player faces aren't designed to be overcome through dexterity or skill. Difficulty curve? Similarly non-applicable. Reviews are, by the nature of the game, basically reviews of the story and how it's told. For most reviews that's just one of the bullet points. For this game? It's the whole thing. And there are professionals who specialize in that one thing. I would be interested to read about cinematography in Beyond: Two Souls. Or plot development. Character depth. How it's use of nonlinear storytelling compares to and measures up against the famous works it's imitating. How the storytelling has been changed because it's a video game, when it seems obvious to the film critic that it could have been more effectively done otherwise in their medium.

By coincidence, I am on Cactaur

I just bought this. I think I'll get a lot out of it. I'll post some experiences here once I have some.