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Post by Digitalnametag on Aug 13, 2020 16:27:04 GMT -5
Finished the new Sakura Wars. I really liked it. Functionally not much has changed. About 2/3 of a chapter is spend in the Visual Novel mode where you progress the storyline, get to know the personalities of the combat troupe and can give choices to win one of their hearts. And just so you don't fall asleep from all the reading, 1/3 of a chapter changes into a barebones fight. Just this time around it is pedestrian hack n slash instead of simplified SRPG. Honestly, to me that makes not much of a different. The fights were never the focus of the series and always piss easy, so I don't care much about the form they take. The game's quite anime tropy, but that also is nothing new. Sakura Wars has always been basically you playing through a ten-ish episode anime series. I mean the games even have a "Next time on..." at the end of each chapter to make sure you get the memo. It is made more user friendly this time around thouhg. For example you can always save (and there is plenty auto saving). Previously you were only able to do this during intermissions which can easily be half to a full hour apart. Guess the insentive was so that you roll with your decissions during the multiple choice questions since you'd have to replay so much to try out new ones. Well now you can just reload if you didn't get the "you did good" ding that shows a girls affection rising. Also in previous games the second to last chapter had a point where you pick a second in charge out of the three girls that like you the most, and of whom you would get the ending of. Now every girl is eligible if the trust is high enough. So this time around you can get all five endings from that late save. With both these things combined it's now a lot easier or rather a lot less time consuming to get all five endings. And now you can watch the actual anime sequel! I thought about going for the Platinum in Sakura Wars but replaying those missions was way too tedious. I wish there was some kind of level up system or mech customization in the game. Ah well. Which girl did you pick? I picked Sakura but almost went with Claris the first time.
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Post by kaoru on Aug 13, 2020 17:46:24 GMT -5
And now you can watch the actual anime sequel! I thought about going for the Platinum in Sakura Wars but replaying those missions was way too tedious. I wish there was some kind of level up system or mech customization in the game. Ah well. Which girl did you pick? I picked Sakura but almost went with Claris the first time. Hehe, not gonna lie, every Sakura Wars anime I've seen so far I thought was quite boring, so I think I'll pass over that one. I first wanted to go for Anastasia, though the story makes it quite clear that the most natrual choice would be Sakura. But then I found out that this time around you can pick from everyone at the end of the second to last chapter instead of the three highest affinity girls like in pevious games. And it's really easy to get them to like you enough for that in the newest game. So I droped a save right at that decission point and went and did all five endings. With skipping the cutscenes and button mashing through the fights, the final chapter isn't very long thankfully.
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Post by Digitalnametag on Aug 13, 2020 21:20:09 GMT -5
Hehe, not gonna lie, every Sakura Wars anime I've seen so far I thought was quite boring, so I think I'll pass over that one. Yeah the anime is just really more of the same. Kudos on playing through all the endings. I just managed two before getting bored.
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Post by X-pert74 on Aug 13, 2020 23:38:25 GMT -5
My CoreGrafx Mini arrived today! Less than three weeks since I bought it off Play-Asia. I am extremely excited cause I never had this as a kid nor knew anyone who had it. It’s very tiny. Ooh, how is it? I've considered picking one up, but last I saw it had sold out D:
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2020 3:01:06 GMT -5
My CoreGrafx Mini arrived today! Less than three weeks since I bought it off Play-Asia. I am extremely excited cause I never had this as a kid nor knew anyone who had it. It’s very tiny. Oh, that's awesome. But I don't see how you have time to post here when what you should be doing is playing Ninja Spirit.
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Post by retr0gamer on Aug 14, 2020 3:05:35 GMT -5
Nights had no problems letting you walk around large 3D areas with free movement (when you were still Claire and Elliot). I'd bet Sonic Team could have produced a decent 3D Sonic on the Saturn if they'd really wanted to. It let you walk around as Claire and Elliot but there was no point to it because it was quite frankly a janky mess and horrendous to play. If it was a full game of just that it would have been horrible.
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Post by kaoru on Aug 14, 2020 4:55:45 GMT -5
Oh yeah, I did beat a couple other games lately I didn't post about yet: Another Code R. There's a reason they put a fat sticker on the box that calls this an interactive novel. Because this is basically the Japanese version of a David Cage game: Mostly a visual novel, but they let you walk a couple steps in between all the reading and break it up with some ho-hum motion controls. The puzzles are almost always brain dead obvious, it's really all about experiencing the story. But if you can get into the slow burn, it is quite a decent one. I think I even liked getting to know the area and its inhabitents and all their b plots more than the main story about Ashs mother. Deadly Creatures. A decent little adventure where you play a tarantula and scorpion and get to fight your way through the microcosm of a desert. I did mostly enjoy it. The only problems are that navigating can sometimes become quite the hassle (the tarantula can walk on walls and ceilings and jump from net to net) and that the motions controls for the final boss only work about half of the time. But I really liked the different perspective of playing such a small creature. The Bouncer. This one looked interesting when it released on the early PS2. But then I quickly heard that it is basically a 1 hour tech demo for the new technology and lost interest. Well, the story mode can indeed be done within 2 hours, but then again, is that so different from other Beat em Ups? And you can play through it with three different characters and have other modes to play. It's still not very good, though. You have no camera control and it is easy for enemies to hit you from off screen. Your two AI companions can end up standing in the way or even kill steal enemies you softened up. For which you then get no points to improve yourself. Clearly a very unpolished game in a genre Square was new in. Ys vs Sora no Kiseki. Also not great, actually. Here the problem ist that this fighting game is based on the Ys Seven engine. For my taste at least everything is a bit too tiny, too far zoomed out, too flashy and quick. And top of the elevation differences in the stages getting in the way. It is kinda hard to really properly react to what enemies throw at you in time. It kind of works ok in the 1 vs 1 fights, but with more than that it becomes a clusterfuck. Of course we are all mostly here not for an amazing fighting game but for the Ys and Kiseki fanservice and the amazing musc. [Yeah the anime is just really more of the same. Kudos on playing through all the endings. I just managed two before getting bored. Heh, thanks. I got all 13 girls in Tokimeki Memorial 2 earlier this year. What's five in Shin Sakura Wars compared to that xD
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Post by dsparil on Aug 14, 2020 6:32:55 GMT -5
Nights had no problems letting you walk around large 3D areas with free movement (when you were still Claire and Elliot). I'd bet Sonic Team could have produced a decent 3D Sonic on the Saturn if they'd really wanted to. It let you walk around as Claire and Elliot but there was no point to it because it was quite frankly a janky mess and horrendous to play. If it was a full game of just that it would have been horrible. That part isn't spectacular because it isn't the meat of the game. X-treme was actually supposed to use the Nights engine as a way to salvage the project towards the end, but Naka supposedly threatened to quit if it was so those plans got scrapped. I used to think that X-treme was a victim of the strife between the American and Japanese branches of the company, but STI did a perfectly good job botching it all on their own before company politics came into play.
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Post by shelverton on Aug 14, 2020 8:45:46 GMT -5
My CoreGrafx Mini arrived today! Less than three weeks since I bought it off Play-Asia. I am extremely excited cause I never had this as a kid nor knew anyone who had it. It’s very tiny. Ooh, how is it? I've considered picking one up, but last I saw it had sold out D: So far it’s great! I’ve been playing Salamander, Castlevania and Bonk I think I got the last one from Play-asia which is crazy (CoreGrafx, that is. Dunno about the other versions?). I fully expected this to be less rare, but I guess it’s pretty much gone now. Maybe Konami will produce more once Corona is over? No idea. This is by far the best thing Konami has come up with in years (which doesn’t say much, but still) Now excuse me while I play some more Bonk
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Post by shelverton on Aug 14, 2020 8:47:46 GMT -5
My CoreGrafx Mini arrived today! Less than three weeks since I bought it off Play-Asia. I am extremely excited cause I never had this as a kid nor knew anyone who had it. It’s very tiny. Oh, that's awesome. But I don't see how you have time to post here when what you should be doing is playing Ninja Spirit. Alright, after Bonk I’m gonna try Ninja Spirit! I have no idea what it is even.
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Post by retr0gamer on Aug 14, 2020 9:37:23 GMT -5
You're in for a treat.
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Post by 🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀 on Aug 14, 2020 9:53:01 GMT -5
I just tried bowling on 51 Worldwide Classics (over 100 hours on that game and I never thought of trying it before). It's definitely not the same. I'm not sure if this is a hardware reason or just software? If it's a hardware reason though and if there was a desire to bring the software over surely they'd just do some kind of Wii remote adapter? Nintendo love their peripherals after all. I do think bowlings inclusion in Worldwide Classics speaks to Nintendo's lack of intent to bring back Wii Sports in it's current form though. With regard to under utilisation of the Wii U Gamepad I always felt Nintendo knew they were onto a loser before it released and didn't develop software for it with the hardware features in mind. I expect Switch was the goal all along and the tech was too expensive at the time. I don't know why asymmetrical multiplayer hasn't otherwise caught on in video games though. It's an idea well used in the board game market (Android: Netrunner for e.g.). Personally my favourite multiplayer game on Wii U was Pikmin Bingo, and that of course will be coming back. Goodbye my life. Yeah, it's pretty much a sign they aren't really going to continue Wii Sports or something like it. Same goes for Wii Play. It's a shame that asymmetrical multiplayer never caught on indeed. It's hard to do properly without two screens. A Parodius parody game? Does that mean it'll be just Gradius again? My brain hurts...
Would be funny if someone who has never played Gradius, only Parodius, would make a Parodius inspired game but one that plays it straight. Wonder how close that would be to Gradius. I've been playing Bug!, and considering that Sonic X-treme was basically a Sonic themed version of that game but with a weird fisheye lens effect, I wonder how much that really could have helped the Saturn's fortunes. My mom worked at a department store that had an N64 kiosk with Mario 64 and a Saturn one with Bug! and later Bug Too! and I spent a good deal of time playing them and did finish both the Bug! games. X-treme would have looked so helplessly dated in gameplay if it and Mario 64 were competing against each other. The lens effect would have been a true differentiator, but there's only so much you can do to spice up such simple overall gameplay. It's really mind-boggling that Sega didn't just throw more money Bug! and turn it into a Sonic game since their own take was so similar. A game like that in '95 would have moved way more copies that Bug! ultimately did. That really goes to show how deep Sega's institutional disfunction was at the time. I think the cancellation of it ultimately kind of made it look better to people that it actually seems. Anything that gets cancelled people automatically assume it would've turned out awesome (same goes for when something gets pitched to a company and they pass on it), but X-Treme honestly looks pretty bad. Of course, no footage of a completed version exists, because it was never completed, but having Adventure as the first 3D Sonic was probably for the better, as poor as that game has aged.
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Post by retr0gamer on Aug 14, 2020 10:09:54 GMT -5
There's a leaked demo of the nights engine Sonic floating about. I've played it on my saturn. It's basically sonic moving and jumping in a green field with bumps. It plays alright but hard to say how it would work if it was scaled up to an actual level.
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Post by dsparil on Aug 14, 2020 10:47:35 GMT -5
There's a leaked demo of the nights engine Sonic floating about. I've played it on my saturn. It's basically sonic moving and jumping in a green field with bumps. It plays alright but hard to say how it would work if it was scaled up to an actual level. That's the boss demo I alluded to earlier. It probably would not have been any larger than that. That didn't use the Nights engine though as it was only used for about 2 weeks in April 1996.
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Post by lurker on Aug 15, 2020 9:51:45 GMT -5
There's also an attempt to remake it...
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