Video Game News and Miscellany

Reverent-one

Reverent-one

Ravenpoe said:
I am all for this. Especially if they keep the massive improvements that were made in x and y
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What improvements were those? I've been out since, well, Ruby came out the first time. I'm all for it too though, my last attempted playthrough died when the internal battery in my copy died, and some of my favorite pokemon are from this game.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Ravenpoe said:
I am all for this. Especially if they keep the massive improvements that were made in x and y
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It would make the most sense to run off of that engine. Groudon and Kyogre look to have altered designs on the covers, so I'm thinking they'll each have a mega evolution.

I'd rather play these than go through Pokemon Y again. Though Lysander was an interesting villain and his goals were pretty evil, the story just wasn't paced all that well compared to the older games, most of it being shoved between the 7th and 8th gyms as opposed to just having the climax at that point. Though I've not played through the 3rd gen games, I've read Nuzlockes and your dealings with Team Aqua/Magma are better spread out, not to mention there's some interesting side quests.

My only problem is the over-reliance on certain HMs. Hopefully they'll find a way around this by using Key Items instead.[DOUBLEPOST=1399480887,1399480796][/DOUBLEPOST]
Reverent-one said:
What improvements were those? I've been out since, well, Ruby came out the first time. I'm all for it too though, my last attempted playthrough died when the internal battery in my copy died, and some of my favorite pokemon are from this game.
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I was about to tell you, but if you've been out since original gen 3, I wouldn't know where to begin, especially with the leaps and bounds made by X/Y. Some of the improvements are to features that didn't even exist back in the Ruby days, such as online.
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Reverent-one said:
What improvements were those? I've been out since, well, Ruby came out the first time. I'm all for it too though, my last attempted playthrough died when the internal battery in my copy died, and some of my favorite pokemon are from this game.
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Improved exp all means all of your pokemon level-up evenly without having to switch them into battle to farm them. Infinite TM uses, much improved online capability, can see and challange/trade with your friends from anywhere in the game without having to go to a pokecenter, and can even be challenged by random passers-by, who you appear to in the form of a 'whose in the area' screen.

This does lead to playing against a lot of japanese people if you're like me and play at 3am, though.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Reverent-one said:
Yeah, the online aspect doesn't hold a lot of interest for me, but the other stuff sounds cool.
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Online trading is fantastic though. As Ravenpoe said, you can do it from anywhere, and there's a new feature to X/Y called Wonder Trade, where you can send out a Pokemon and it'll be traded with someone. You won't know what you're getting, and though sometimes you get trash, you can immediately send it back out and see if you get some new/decent. Some people trade baby starters, sometimes you'll get stuff to fill out your Pokedex. Occasionally I've seen legendaries. It's a fun system, at the very least.
 
bhamv3

bhamv3

Zero Esc said:
It would make the most sense to run off of that engine. Groudon and Kyogre look to have altered designs on the covers, so I'm thinking they'll each have a mega evolution.
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Holy shit, Kyogre and Groudon were already OP as fuck, imagine what they could do if they mega up. They might rival Mega Mewtwo in scariness.

Also, I hope Rayquaza gets a mega form too.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Ok, spoke too soon, e-mail came 30 minutes later.

So I go to put in my beta key and....


NCMaint.JPG



Methinks somebody's not ready for launch yet! Heh. Oh, MMO games, how I've missed your subtle aftertaste of mild irritation.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
CynicismKills said:
You aren't missing much, the game's okay but horribly optimized. I can run FFXIV at a higher graphics setting and my computer is a toaster.
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I'm running everything on top level with no problem, but my PC is badass. :D

Thing is though, the game just isn't grabbing me. It's Yet Another MMO (tm). It's iterative, sure, takes everything another game has done at some point and cranks it up one more notch... but at this point I think I'm done with the same ol' MMO recipe that's been progressing for the last 15 years. I'm ready for something revolutionary, not evolutionary. But I'm glad I got to try it so I could know what I'd be passing up.
 
CynicismKills

CynicismKills

GasBandit said:
I'm running everything on top level with no problem, but my PC is badass. :D

Thing is though, the game just isn't grabbing me. It's Yet Another MMO (tm). It's iterative, sure, takes everything another game has done at some point and cranks it up one more notch... but at this point I think I'm done with the same ol' MMO recipe that's been progressing for the last 15 years. I'm ready for something revolutionary, not evolutionary. But I'm glad I got to try it so I could know what I'd be passing up.
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Apparently they've done a lot of optimization work since the last open beta I played, so there that, too. But yeah, I'm having plenty of fun in FFXIV and don't have a need for another MMO right now. Skill-shot and dodge-based combat felt clunky to me, and I don't particularly care about housing.
 
Gryfter

Gryfter

In terms of MMOs right now I am just waiting for The Repopulation. That's the most interesting one to me in development.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
CynicismKills said:
Apparently they've done a lot of optimization work since the last open beta I played, so there that, too. But yeah, I'm having plenty of fun in FFXIV and don't have a need for another MMO right now. Skill-shot and dodge-based combat felt clunky to me, and I don't particularly care about housing.
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Not to mention that it's really, really linear. I need more sandboxing in my RPGs now.
 
CynicismKills

CynicismKills

GasBandit said:
Not to mention that it's really, really linear. I need more sandboxing in my RPGs now.
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Yeah. I fired it up last night while FF was down for maintenance.

The optimization issues have been somewhat addressed, but some folks (like me) had to disable the targeting icons. What that means is, unless I leave my own nameplate on all the time, I can't see my own hp bar. For whatever reason there's no hp bar on the hotbar/skill bar part of the HUD. So that's kind of annoying.

Combat's a bit smoother, though at low levels it is super boring. You have one basic ability (there is no auto-attack in this game) that you have to aim, as everything has a cast time of some sort and a target area (range/size changes based on the ability). Using your regular ability charges a class-based skill bar, allowing the use of a stronger attack that again, you aim and fire. Everyone has some kind of Super Sayajin Mode that lasts like 10 seconds and boosts your damage or something like that.

Starter areas, once you leave the tutorial ship, are kind of big, which is neat. It's still pretty much your typical MMO here, move from quest point 1 to 2, etc etc. There are things to find, like sidequests and points of interest, that give you xp and some cash, so exploring is encouraged.

Outside of the class you pick, you also pick a Path. Depending on which you choose, you get different kinds of sidequests, some of which you actually have to explore to find. Soldier gets defend-the-tower and kill quests, Explorer has to 100% maps and find secluded-ish areas, and there's also Settler and Scientist which I haven't tried.

Character and world design is pretty cool. Customization is a bit limited, only the face has sliders right now. However they added in different body types, so there's that, I guess.

All in all, I can see the game being fun, but in the way FF13 was. Slogging through uneventful low levels and starter quests to get to the meat of the game, which apparently is level 15+ when dungeons and other PvE content open (PvP is open at level 6 or something, I guess, haven't checked into that yet).
 
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