It's my "First Entry" rule: If you're a new JRPG franchise, you need to ether be doing something better than the other guys or doing something different. Ni No Kuni does neither. Therefore I can't recommend it as a title unless you really like anime or Miyazaki. Or Pokemon.
GasBandit
Staff member
NWN 2's story is not something to brag about. Especially the ending.
Anyway, You're looking at half the team that just got number NINE in the endless-co op rankings on Chilled Cavern in Orcs Must Die 2. It was really something. Usually I consider it pretty good to get in the top 500... but number NINE? Just goes to show you how difficult Chilled Cavern is... only made it to round 63.
Also, I'm pretty sure half the people above me on the list cheated. And probably a good number of people below me, actually.
Anyway, You're looking at half the team that just got number NINE in the endless-co op rankings on Chilled Cavern in Orcs Must Die 2. It was really something. Usually I consider it pretty good to get in the top 500... but number NINE? Just goes to show you how difficult Chilled Cavern is... only made it to round 63.
Also, I'm pretty sure half the people above me on the list cheated. And probably a good number of people below me, actually.
The recent Hyrule Historia released by Dark Horse got me in the mood to start playing Zelda games again, so I started playing Minish Cap. Just finished the first Dungeon.[DOUBLEPOST=1360005842][/DOUBLEPOST]Related note: If you are a Zelda fan do yourself a favor and pickup a copy of the Hyrule Historia. It's absolutely stunning.
Is it really any different than the Dragon Quest series bringing the art of Akira Toriyama to the world of video games? You know... like they've been doing since the mid 80's? (though the best example was on the PS2 with Dragon Quest 8)
I never did finish Minish Cap. I think I made it to the last boss and he soundly whooped my ass. First Zelda boss to really make me feel like I suck at games.[DOUBLEPOST=1360007041][/DOUBLEPOST]
Yeah, I'd say it's pretty different. Toriyama's art is good, but it's not the same style at all. His is more edgy and sharp, lots of straight lines and points. Ghibli art is softer, rounder, and generally more moody in use of colors.
Agree that his art style is identifiable.
Disagree that it's because he's Dreamworks (unimaginative)
Your talking content, I'm talking design. I'm simply saying that the idea of using the work of a well known artist from another medium (Toriyama from manga, Studio Ghibli from film) as the basis for a video game is nothing new. This isn't to say it's not impressively done (Ni No Kuni is one of the most beautiful games I've seen,) but it's hardly an original or revolutionary design choice.
At best you can argue that Ni No Kuni adapted it's source better than Dragon Quest 8 did, but my counter to that is that Dragon Quest 8 was a PS2 game and that Ni No Kuni was a PS3 game. It had better hardware and larger storage capacity to work with so of course it was going to turn out better, at least in presentation.
I dunno, I enjoy his art but if you compare one character set to another, they're ridiculously similar. Piccolo/Magus, Crono/Goku, Bulma/Marle, etc. Obviously there's going to be some original stuff, like Robo or some of the DQ monsters, but all in all he's got a bad case of redundant design.[DOUBLEPOST=1360010382][/DOUBLEPOST]
From the standpoint of using the artist's name (or in this case, the studio) to push some recognition, yeah I agree. I think it just boils down to what we've both sort of said at one point, that JRPGs just don't innovate anymore. The ones that try generally get shunned for it, especially in terms of combat (FFXII and XIII, for example). People say they want something fresh in the genre, but when something is attempted it gets blasted for it and everyone pines for the days of FFIV and Phantasy Star.
Ni No Kuni was originally a DS game, and was really pretty there, too.
Originally? No, it wasn't. Both games were produced side-by-side. The handheld version was simply released first because it was a simpler product and was finished first. The PS3 version is a lot more complex and required more time complete. The existence of the DS version is merely because Level 5 wanted to capitalize on the MASSIVE DS market.
Wanted to buy Omerta: City of Gangsters but then I saw that it was a Kalypso release.Torrented it after I got home
to test it and I was glad that I didnt pay 50€ for a game as shallow as that.
to test it and I was glad that I didnt pay 50€ for a game as shallow as that.
Really? That sucks, the trailer made it look pretty interesting.
Old NES and SNES Games
Wow. If my younger self could see me, he'd be screaming "NOOOOOOB!" Well, if "noob" was a term back then, anyway.
I struggled with the first world in Super Mario World. I couldn't get to Bomb Man in his stage in Mega Man. I couldn't even get half of Chill Penguin's health down in Mega Man X.
Games really were a lot harder back then, weren't they? Then again, back then, we had more time to master them, too.
Wow. If my younger self could see me, he'd be screaming "NOOOOOOB!" Well, if "noob" was a term back then, anyway.
I struggled with the first world in Super Mario World. I couldn't get to Bomb Man in his stage in Mega Man. I couldn't even get half of Chill Penguin's health down in Mega Man X.
Games really were a lot harder back then, weren't they? Then again, back then, we had more time to master them, too.
GasBandit
Staff member
You were also a sugar-fueled nanohuman racing around at the speed of sound. I've noticed that twitch reflex tends to go away after 20-25.
It only goes away if you don't keep it in good practice. My twitch is actually a lot better now than it was back then now that I'm better at keeping it in control. But that's true for all physical activity I suppose: You need to stay in practice or you lose it.
Sins of a Solar Empire with all the expansions and the new one Rebellion. I love this game. It does take a very long time to play a game but there's something awesome about the giant fleet battles that can ensue.
GasBandit
Staff member
Heh, maybe you can extend it.
But you come talk to me in 10 more years.[DOUBLEPOST=1360170253][/DOUBLEPOST]
I love me some Sins, but I couldn't bring myself to pay full game price for the rebellion expansion. I'm still playing Trinity. Maybe rebellion will finally be reasonably priced in this year's summer sale.
Agreed. Trinity is ridiculously good value for $19.99 but the Rebellion expansion is definitely a little high for what you get (the new factions, ships and faction specific tech is nice but I don't know if it's worth the hefty price tag).
What I have noticed that is awesome is that the games runs far FAR better now than it used to on my same computer. Maybe they did some serious code overhaul? It loads extremely quickly and no longer takes a minute to exit the program.
I still have yet to convince my friends to play this with me so it's always against enemy AI.
I used to play a LOT of SOSE,damn that sound stupid,Sins, almost as much as on Civ 5.But I had a lot more time back then.
Still making my way through Ni No Kuni, but haven't had enough time to really dive into it.
More currently, though is Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. It's in every way shape and form a Sly Cooper game, so if you loved the other Sly Cooper games, you'll probably love this one. The only real addition is more characters to play as. You get to play as Carmalita Fox for the first time, as well as each Cooper ancestor for the time period you're in. Each ancestor has a specific gimick that they use, so it helps keep things kind of fresh. That being said, everything else is pretty much the same. I'm a huge fan of the Sly Cooper series, so I'm loving it so far.
Also, boy did Sony not really do any advertizing for this game.
More currently, though is Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. It's in every way shape and form a Sly Cooper game, so if you loved the other Sly Cooper games, you'll probably love this one. The only real addition is more characters to play as. You get to play as Carmalita Fox for the first time, as well as each Cooper ancestor for the time period you're in. Each ancestor has a specific gimick that they use, so it helps keep things kind of fresh. That being said, everything else is pretty much the same. I'm a huge fan of the Sly Cooper series, so I'm loving it so far.
Also, boy did Sony not really do any advertizing for this game.
They had a series of shorts on YouTube, but yeah those weren't really pushed at all. I only found out about them from a random Sly Cooper thread on /v/.
Sony really hasn't shown much faith in their stuff lately. Playstation All-Stars bombed because the people who needed to buy it didn't know about it, Sony didn't promote it as the party game that it really is, and it featured characters no one really gives a shit about.
Except Sir Daniel Fortesque. Man's a walking icon and needs another game BADLY.
Except Sir Daniel Fortesque. Man's a walking icon and needs another game BADLY.
People pushed Sony hard for Sir Daniel, too. I watched some gameplay, and I think the character that really bugged me was Big Daddy. He's leaping and swinging around at the speed of Raiden, and it looks fucking ridiculous. At least in SSB, Bowser and Ganondorf felt like they had some weight to them.
Well, that was one of the other issues, some of the characters weren't really SONY all-stars because they were from cross platform games. Big Daddy, Heihachi, and Dante aren't characters that I'd specifically associate with the Playstation. They just seem shoehorned in to promote upcoming games.
I include Dante specifically because he's the NEW Dante.
Yeah. Though to be fair I wouldn't have associated Snake or Sonic with Nintendo, either. Sonic a bit moreso now that they seem to have a pretty good working relationship with Nintendo, but still, my late 80's/early 90's brain sometimes has trouble digesting that.
The issue really stems from Sony not having any mascots (in the US anyway). At least, nothing like Mario/Link/Kirby/etc. Sony's flagship titles, at least lately, have been more realistic setting with mostly normal-looking humans. Parrapa and Jak haven't seen a major release since PS2, that I can recall. Ratchet and Clank is really the only one still releasing games, and those haven't gotten the attention they used to in the PS2 era.
The issue really stems from Sony not having any mascots (in the US anyway). At least, nothing like Mario/Link/Kirby/etc. Sony's flagship titles, at least lately, have been more realistic setting with mostly normal-looking humans. Parrapa and Jak haven't seen a major release since PS2, that I can recall. Ratchet and Clank is really the only one still releasing games, and those haven't gotten the attention they used to in the PS2 era.
Wow, there's been two since that? I know All 4 One (brother has it, it's alright but I couldn't get into it), but I didn't realize there was another. Crack In Time was fantastic, though. Even the Clank parts were fun and I hated those in previous games.
Was there any real Ratchet and Clank games after Tools of Destruction? I know it did rather well. Oh, there was Crack in Time. It did much less well but still sold almost 2 million copies.
Sony has lately just been awful to it's farmed out games. They contract a small studio to make a game. They make the game. Sony releases it without an ounce of marketing, Sony cancels the contract for game support with the studio, studio folds. That's happened so many times in the last couple of years.
I am playing Dragonborn, the Skyrim DLC. It's pretty good stuff, I don't remember Solthsheim being so ashlandy but they have an excuse with Red Mountain constantly dumping ash everywhere. Neloth is the best character Bethesda might have ever made. He's still bland as fuck, but his arrogance is fantastic. Bethesda seriously needs to look into hiring people who can fucking write anything other than the world's most boring NPCs.