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Post by Snake on Jul 10, 2020 13:05:30 GMT -5
I remember having a lot of trouble with the TG version of Solomon Shrine but significantly less in the Chronicles+ version last year. The layout is actually less confusing than it seems, but it's a lot to take in. Turbografx version of Solomon Shrine is pretty brutal. Especially the subterranean canal. Took me a while to realize that it was split into 3 maps.
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Post by shelverton on Jul 10, 2020 13:42:33 GMT -5
In a parallel universe, the WayForward game announced in that Nintendo Tree House was not Bakugan but a 2D Metroid! I don’t know what made me think that. Maybe because the Paper Mario trailer had ended with Mario wearing Samus helmet?
Anyway, Paper Mario looks slightly... over-designed perhaps? Something about the battle system looks more intelligent than actual fun. Especially that boss battle.
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Post by lurker on Jul 10, 2020 13:59:57 GMT -5
My first thought was "Bakugan is still a thing?". I was also expecting the surprise to be another game in the vein of Ducktales Remastered.
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Post by dsparil on Jul 10, 2020 14:01:48 GMT -5
Nintendo made a clarifying tweet really quickly after the initial one—I think it was literally minutes—saying that the WayForward announcement was a licensed game. Still was not expecting Bakugan of all things. It's not like it's going to have the literal mechanics of the physical game anyway.
Supposedly the new Paper Mario is actually good based on previews. We'll find out soon enough. As a series, it does fall under the "only do new things" curse Nintendo randomly applies that has denied us a new F-Zero.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 10, 2020 14:20:55 GMT -5
The new Paper Mario shares the same design flaw as the last two - the battle system isn't integrated into the rest of the game. Battles gain coins which can be spent...to make battles easier. Other than bosses there's no reason to go into battles. It really seems like Intelligent Systems want to go full on adventure game but include turn based battles due to fan demand. They really need to pick one direction or the other.
Had a good laugh at Bakugan. I know some people were hyping the announcement, not sure why. Don't remember seeing the dislikes ever go up so fast on a video.
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Post by Apollo Chungus on Jul 10, 2020 16:12:57 GMT -5
This is a little off-topic, but I just wrote a bunch of paragraphs about the reception to the Sonic Adventure games when they were initially ported to the GameCube back in the early 00s. I mainly did it as something of a writing exercise, but I also thought of sending it to a couple of people who've been in the Sonic fandom since the 90s for their thoughts on the matter. I think it's a somewhat interesting topic, and I hope there might be something interesting to you in my ramblings:
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Post by retr0gamer on Jul 10, 2020 18:32:28 GMT -5
Honestly think it's quite simple. They reviewed well on Dreamcast because of hype and when they were released. Sonic Adventure 1 is objectively not a good game, it's a very mediocre one riddled with bugs and not a whole lot of fun to play. However on release it was exciting as it was the first 3D sonic game and also was pretty much the best looking game on any system. Lots of hype for it and as a result it got over rated. Happens a lot with highly anticipated games, especially ones where a system is riding on them being good. Kind of like the first Resistance on PS3 and MGS4, two bad to middling games that reviewed mostly well but in retrospect weren't great. So when SA1 came to other consoles there was no hype and people could see the games flaws that it just wasn't good enough, especially when held up to other better contemporary platformers like Rayman 2 or Mario 64.
As for SA2, that's objectively a very bad poorly programmed and rushed game. I finished it recently and it's not good. However it was the final hurrah for the system so a lot was riding on it and it reviewed well despite it being... well shite.
Sometimes Hype, timing and circumstance play a big part in how a game is perceived by reviews. Fallout 4 and Bioshock Infinite are two recent games that were hyped to all hell and reviewed well but in retrospect were really poor. It happens. Reviewers are only human and due to how low paying the jobs are most are inexperienced writers that don't have enough cynicism. Once they build that up and a better writing style they get the hell out of videogame journalism into a better job.
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Post by dsparil on Jul 11, 2020 5:40:41 GMT -5
Sonic Adventure started to have a worse reputation before it even left the Dreamcast. It has a great first Sonic level, but most of the design decisions were just puzzling especially having multiple characters with such disparate and less fun gameplay. SA2 just doubled down and didn't just give us the all Sonic 3D game people actually craved.
I own a Dreamcast; I had plenty of Sonic experience; I bought those weird all red Sonic 3 Life Savers for the tips. The SA games were overrated at the time. I do think that all the games collectively do get underrated a bit these days, but there's also so many poor to middling ones that they drag down the reputation of the actually good games.
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Post by dsparil on Jul 11, 2020 5:53:13 GMT -5
On a totally different note, I'm pretty far into Mary Skelter: Nightmares which is a pretty good dungeon crawler, but I think I might have been bit by my decision to play the first game first. I mean, I did buy Mary Skelter 2 which just so happens to include the first game. From what I read, to get the true ending of Nightmares, you need to get the true ending of 2 first! 🤦♀️🤦🤦♂️
I think the dumb reason for this is that true ending is actually part of new content that didn't exist in the original release. However, it does seem like this requirement was possibly patched out since it's just so bizarre and unstated. I might get to that point, and hold off on finishing until complete the second game since it's supposed to be a capstone to both somehow. Supposedly it's possible to skip to the last main dungeon so I might not be totally screwed if I have to replay it.
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Post by 1upsuper on Jul 11, 2020 14:04:31 GMT -5
Wait, you have to get the true ending in second game in the bundled version in order to unlock the true ending in the first game? How utterly bizarre.
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Post by Gendo Ikari on Jul 11, 2020 14:55:50 GMT -5
Anyone checked the Devolver Digital presentation that has just finished? It seems they wanted it to be a parody of videogame marketing and presentations but it ended up being exactly the things it's supposed to make fun of, only worse: loud, gratuitously in-your-face, obnoxious and unfunny. It baffles me that something so crass, built solely around the principle of "look we're so edgy", is praised as great marketing. I love Devolver as a publisher but I'm getting too damn old for this.
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Post by ZenithianHero on Jul 11, 2020 20:15:15 GMT -5
Still love Sonic Adventure 1 and 2. They deserve the full-budget remastering treatment. I actually hope that remake rumor is true and turns out well.
A lot of what I like about the games get ridiculed nowadays. I love playing as the different characters. Especially Knuckles in 3D. So many platformers shy away from playable characters like him and I am disappointed. I like the story, Adventure 1 with its connected Rashomon-style narrative. Adventure 2 oozed style with how characters got their own music direction. Hardly anybody puts effort into that anymore!
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Post by retr0gamer on Jul 12, 2020 4:58:30 GMT -5
I personal prefer when games prioritise having fun gameplay which the sonic adventure games don't. Or good programming so you aren't playing the most inanely boring cart racing section for 10 minutes then fall through the geometry on the final stretch and have to repeat the level.
There's nothing good about the story either. Both games just seem really rushed especially the second. I just can't see how anyone could call them good games these days.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2020 6:22:00 GMT -5
My experience with Sonic Adventure comes down to the fact that a lot of the promotional material at the time had Sonic being chased by a killer whale. Now I have Thalassophobia which is a phobia of deep ocean and ocean creatures and you will probably find it weird (you'd be right) but the biggest catalyst to this has always been whales. I've often found underwater segments in games terrifying but when I first saw a demo station with that enormous beast trying to brutalise Sonic I was out of that Woolworths like a shot. Of course Sega had already explored horror in games with the Ecco series but I never expected this to be imposed on an innocent hedgehog. So yeah, this is pretty much my full experience with the game. The game fills me with dread. It's not an adventure I'll be journeying on.
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Post by dsparil on Jul 12, 2020 6:37:32 GMT -5
Wait, you have to get the true ending in second game in the bundled version in order to unlock the true ending in the first game? How utterly bizarre. Almost everything about these games is a bottomless well of confusion. Did you play the first one on Vita or PC (second is Switch exclusive outside Japan)? Those seem to have different and larger maps, but the Switch version might have the original Japanese ones.
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