What Games Are You Playing 2013?

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Granted, the "is a Survival Horror" is indirectly what makes RE4 way better than RE5, since survival horror implies some attempt at atmosphere, which leads to actual luls in combat.  I'm all for combat, but games do need to take breathing room every now and then.  Even games like DMC and Bayonetta understood that, and they're straight up action games!

I think what really makes RE4 better is level design, more than anything.  Other than a few levels earlier on, RE5 lacks an answer to 4's most interesting setpieces, which were different large areas with mixed terrain and a whole bunch of different elevations and obstacles.  It just feels like all the levels are somehow lazier.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Star Ocean 4 - triaceopening.gif, now with basic gameplay. Ranged damage kinda rules your face so far.

[AndrewRogue]

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Replaying this series since I never finished the third game. 4th case beaten. Game's writing is better than I remember and Phoenix makes a great deadpan snarker. I had actually forgotten he was the straight man. Game's logic is still a little bizarre at times. The 4th case is particularly bad about this, as there are a few circumstances where contradictions exist but don't count until a specific moment (murder weapon being fired three times) or are obvious but require pressing anyway. When this is combined with occasionally needing to fail, you can burn a lot objections trying to ferret out what you're actually supposed to do.

Also, game needs a skip text button for accidentally clicking on a repeat investigation dialogue.

[Meeplelard]

Pandora's Tower: Started this up, got past the 2nd tower.

Hey Aeron, this game has a cast of like 3 real characters and given the way the game is structured, I don't expect that number to go up...do you think you could...oh I dunno...NOT BE A SILENT PROTAGONIST!?  Ok, yes, he does say the occassional "Yes" or "Elena" and such, but nothing of actual substance.  Only time he says something more is when you're talking to Mavda about stuff and it's just basic parroting what Mavda said so she goes into more detail.

And he has occasional "I have to do this!" to self moments, mostly it's the game yelling at you for "You cannot do this yet, go try something else in the tower!"

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Star Ocean 4 - triaceopening.gif, now with basic gameplay. Ranged damage kinda rules your face so far.

It will continue to do so. Hope you like using Bacchus/Reimi's dashing attack!

[superaielman]

FF7- *Accessory broken, item sealed, frog inflicted* I could swear FF7's slots in the battle arena weren't totally rigged, but they were here.

[Meeplelard]

Isn't the universe in general rigged against you?

[Twilkitri]

Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies - played through (not the dlc episode yet though)

Pretty great. See what other people said.



Pokémon X - played through

Pretty great.

Organize Boxes still isn't the default option for the box computer? dasfjk;aca;cv

Party I beat the game with was Clawitzer, Talonflame, Chesnaught, Aegislash, and Tyrantrum. They were all around level 90 at the time because that was how I had been rolling. (And I wasn't leaving any area if I had records of any uncaught Pokémon existing there, and some of them were highly uncooperative (ARBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOK))

Currently have 484/518 creatures nationally - think I'm missing 20 specifically from Kalos if you discount anything over No. 150 in each regional 'dex.



Picross e3 - played through

Pretty picrossy.

I guess Mega Picross mode is nowhere near as banal as Picross e2's Micross mode, but that doesn't mean it wasn't terrible. Because it was terrible.

[superaielman]

It's more that FF7's arena hasn't aged well. (Along with the entire game). The GP system's dumb, not being able to save your battle points is dumb and the actual structure of the arena's very luck based.

[SnowFire]

Actually the Battle Arena is like one of the rare minigames FF7 does right.  The luck is part of the tension.  It's basically one of the only ways the game is ever hard, so it being cruel and unusual and possibly unwinnable..  well....  you should have backed out earlier, wimp.  I approve.

Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies
http://objection.mrdictionary.net/go.php?n=7050073

[Dark Holy Elf]

http://objection.mrdictionary.net/go.php?n=7050109

re the FF7 battle arena, I definitely agree with Snowfire. (And yeah you should generally retreat once you start stacking generally bad things like no item and no accessory since at that point you're only one more bad draw away from a loss). Part of the fun is the different challenges you'll have to deal with.


Pokemon X - 100 hours in, I now have an entirely complete Kalos pokedex except for Banette and Shuppet which can't be fixed until Thursday (because GameFreak). Never actually did that in a pokemon game before I think. Fun enough thing to do though wouldn't do it very often or perhaps even ever again. Anyway the game was fun, definitely done with it for a while now.

Legend of Dragoon - beat disc 3. Divine Dragon got horribly exploded by Power Up magic (I didn't even see it at red HP, yikes). Lloyd was more competent than I remembered on the other hand, he had some good luck with the counters and finished the battle with two PCs dead, not too bad. Doing Polter Armour immediately is also pretty fun.

[superaielman]

Backing out's not fun when you have an extremely limited supply of GP/BP not saving.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Your GP supply is only as limited as you make it, and if you somehow end up blowing it all and not getting the item you want you can always reload the save with the GP so you don't have to build it up again. This doesn't seem like a problem? I dunno, I've never done that minigame and felt restricted by GP at all, but then I love the motorcycle game.

[superaielman]

The only way to get more GP before the Highwind (When you can buy it, do Chocobo racing or at least do different games) is grinding the bike minigame. This is not good design at all. It gets much better later on at least.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Even if you dislike the bike game, you can just pretend the arena is a disc 2 sidequest (aside from the one forced bit on disc 1 where you don't need GP anyway). I don't see how you have any cause to complain here.

[Cmdr_King]

I think losing BP on exit was a bit punitive (I mean, if you REALLY want to build up to Omnislash 500 bp at a time, why make you do it all in one session?), but otherwise it's kinda a 'working as designed' scenario: yeah, the Battle Arena is supposed to be artificially hard and sorta annoying.  Game doesn't really make a secret of it, and with patience you can certainly luck your way through, so I can't find much fault with the overall design.

[SnowFire]

Yeah, I always considered the Battle Arena more like a Disc 3 sidequest, since it's not like you'll even be able to use Omnislash right away.  That and going in without a Ribbon is asking for trouble.

[Dark Holy Elf]

I definitely consider it a "right after temple of the ancients" (for reasons related to said ribbon) sidequest myself but again, I love the bike game. Early Omnislash doesn't matter, but early Champion Belts certainly do. Also doing it on disc 1 = no ghost ships which can instantly lose you the fight no matter what penalties you have. Apparently it's really unlikely but I have unhappy memories of it happening to me anyway.

[Meeplelard]

Pandora's Tower: Another tower down! HA! TAKE THAT WATER DUNGEON THAT HAD NO SWIMMING INVOLVED!

Radiant Historia: TIME FOR ANOTHER ABRIDGED SERIES BY MEEPLE!  As a reminder, this done entirely for laughs, will probably not be that funny in-spite of that,and does not necessarily reflect my opinion of the game, so if you think I'm being too hard or over-hating, keep in mind, I have already decided to overhate it before playing it so the game had no chance to begin with!
No seriously, it doesn't reflect my opinion, so don't get defensive!

*Desert scene*
FEmale Elf: The world is dead
Male Elf: I know
Female Elf: Wanna try again?
Male: Ok.

*insert exposition here about war here, but more importantly, CHARACTER TIME!*

Old Dude: Hey STocke, I have a mission for you, OUR GREATEST SPECIAL FORCE SOLDIER!
Stocke: Wait, since when am I the greatest Heiss?
Heiss: Since you're the main character of the game.  I mean, you ARE wearing Red and this game did originate in Japan so...
Stocke: What the hell are you talking about?
Heiss: ...nevermind.  Here, go meet up with this contact that will tell us about Grangor Weapons.  WE MIGHT BE ATTACKED!
Stocke: Ok.  Going to do it then.
Heiss: BUT TAKE THIS BOOK BEFORE YOU GO! IT IS THE WHITE CHRONICLE AND-...
STocke: ...it's blank...
Heiss: What?
Stocke: It's blank.  You gave me a blank book with a fancy name.  Are you going senile?
Heiss: Look, just take it, it's important!
Stocke: ...how? I coudl take any random book off the shelf and it'll be more useful than this.
Heiss: It's a Good Luck Charm, ok? Just think of it that way.
Stocke: You're not going to stop this conversation until I say yes, aren't you?
Heiss: No, no I am not.
Stocke: Fine! I'm off to do this SOLO MISS-...
Heiss: By the way, your partners are outside...
Stocke: ...not that I have anything against allies, but next time, why not tell me that at the beginning?

*Stocke leaves room*

Stocke: Ok, so where are these supposed allies of mine.
Girl: Hi, are you Stocke?
Stocke: Yes, and you are?
Girl: I'm Raynie, and this is Marco!
Stocke: Ok, I'm fine with you but...Marco? A kid? What use can he have?
Marco: I can heal?
Stocke: Fair enough!  Let's go do that mission thing! *vision of Raynie and Marco dead* ...wait, the hell?  Why am I getting these visions?  Ah I'm sure it is TOTALLY NOT FORESHADOWING FOR A TRAGIC INCIDENT IN THE NEAR FUTURE THAT WILL BE THE LEAD INTO SOMETHING BIGGER! Anyway, off we go!
?: No, stop, don't go yet!
Stocke: Huh? Who said that?
Big Suit Of Armor: Stocke, I have a bad feeling about this!
STocke: OH GOD WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH ME!?
Big Suit of Armor: ...it's me, Rosch...you know...your best friend?
Stocke: ...OH! RIGHT! YOU!  Why are you dressed like that?
Rosch: I always dress like this.
Stocke: You do?
Rosch: Yes, especially since I lost my arm in battle in that tragic incident, and now have a Thaumetech one.
Stocke: ...that arm of yours is mechanical?
Rosch: Yes, isn't it obvious?
Stocke: Not when you're dressed like that!
Rosch: Anyway, I have a bad feeling Stocke, and whenever I have a bad feeling about soldiers, THEY DIE!
Stocke: HA! Like that could happen to me!
Rosch: Well, I guess it's possible you could just be seriously injured and come back alive...like I did with this arm...that changed my life forever...my poor arm...
Stocke: Again with the arm thing...look, I'll be fine, ok?  SEE? I'M SMILING! HAPPY! GOOD! FINE!
Rosch: (...he's doomed...)

*one overworld sequence later*

Stocke: THERE'S A FLAMING MECHANICAL CHICKEN! KILL IT!
Marco: Why?
Stocke: Because it's dangerous!
Marco: No it's not; it looks pretty tame.
Stocke: But it will attack us!
Raynie: It's just sitting right there; we can walk right past it and it won't notice us.
Stocke: THE THING IS DANGEROUS I SWEAR!
Marco: Looks rather weak actually...
Stocke: Ok, look, we need a forced fight for the sake of a tutorial ok?
Raynie/Marco: Oooooh.
*one tutorial fight later*
Stocke: So, let's finish this mission!

High Colonel Dias: Now to ominously appear during a rain moment! Please note my SILVER BISHIE HAIR and my sword! It is probably strongly indicative of my role in the story!
Palomides the Executioner: Sir, your hair is clearly yellow though...
Dias: IT'S PRACTICALLY WHITE IN THE ART OK!?  Anyway, let us enact our CLEARLY NOT OMINOUS PLAN!
Palomides: You mean crush our enemies outright with superior everything?
Dias: ...yes, yes I do...

*shift to Stocke's crew*
Stocke: So, we're suppose to meet the guy here?
Raynie: Believe so.
Stocke: Know anything about the person?
Marco: Well, he's suppose to have a bunch of guards!   We just need to escort them to Alistar (Meeple Note: I apologize if I butchered the name, still getting use to locales and such)
Spy Person: Except they were all killed along the way due to an ambush and I'm all that's left...
Marco: ...or the person comes alone and we have to protect them, but that's not a problem, right?
Stocke: Something feels wrong about this...oh I'm sure it's nothing big.
Raynie: ...hey STocke, fork in the road.  North is the direct way home but...
Spy Person: They probably are waiting for us there..
Stocke: Right, we go South, which while less direct, should avoid contact with the enemy and...
*Arrow kills Spy Person from the south*
Stocke: ...we fail at our mission out right and are now fighting for our lives OH GOD!  Quick! You two stay here, I'll go scout the area!
Raynie: Wouldn't it make more sense for us to go together?
Stocke: NO! Because you need to guard the corpse!

*Stocke investigates area to south*
Stocke: Alright you cowardly snipers, where are you!? Don't make me go all Protagonist on your asses! ...seems they've run away.  Oh well, path seems cle-*sees a blockade*...right, guess that options out.  Things can't be easy...and suddenly I remember Raynie and Marco being dead in that image...I don't like where this is going.
*Stocke returns*
Raynie: So, we going south?
Stocke: Well, see, Blockade down there so...
Marco: We have to bust through the enemies up north?
Stocke: Yes, let's do it despite how suicidal it is! Not like we have any other choice...
*the group goes north, battle ensues, Stocke gets hurt some*
Stocke: Hey Marco, heal me please!
Marco: I can't!
Stocke: ...why not? Aren't you the healer?
Marco: I don't know any healing spells!
Stocke: ...then why did you...oh not worth it, let's just end this fight.
*They win*
Stocke: There's a lot of them but they can't beat us at all!
Palomides: Yes, but I can!
Dias: Do you not know dramatic entrances or tact at all?
Palomides: I'm a big hulking guy who kills things, none of that applies to me!  Look, just sit back and let me deal with these pests ok?
Dias: Fine fine...
Stocke: ...I think we're screwed...
*Palomides glows black*
Stocke: Umm...I'm guessing talking this over is out of the question?
Palomides: Hello, Executioner here!
Stocke: So...unwinnable plot fight?
Palomides: Unwinnable plot fight.
*Palomides kills Raynie and Marco, seriously wounds Stocke*
Stocke: Crap, gotta retreat...sorry guys.
*Palomides pursues and corners Stocke on bridge with help of guards*
Palomides: Running away to save your own hide...clever, but fruitless.
Stocke: ok, I can't win this fight, I'm too injured to beat those mooks over there...maybe I should slice the ropes on the bridge and try to kill him alongside me...or I'll just jump and accomplish nothing...yeah that option is sounding good, BYE! *jumps*
Palomides: He won't live, but find his body just in case and assume he's dead if he doesn't.
Generic Guard: Sir, isn't that what gets all villains like you killed eventually?
Palomides: ...*murders the Generic Guard* Anyone else?

*Stocke awakens in an Escher painting*
Stocke: Ok...where am I?  Let's retrace what happened.   Mission, failed mission, dead allies, jumped off bridge with serious injuries...oh...
Male Elf: You have awoken, KEEPER OF THE WHITE CHRONICLE!
STocke: Um...what?
Female Elf: KEEPER OF THE WHITE CHRONICLE! HE WHO CONTROLS FATE!
Stocke: ...I'm confused...can you at least tell me your names?
Male Elf: I'm Teo.
Female Elf: I'm Lippiti.
Stocke: ...and am I dead?
Teo: No, but you could be!
Stocke: That's not helping...
Lippiti: You failed at your mission...or did you?
Stocke: No, I'm pretty sure I failed.
Teo: But this point can fluctuate.  You hold the White Chronicle, you can erase those moments by going the other way!
Stocke: Uh, what?
Lippiti: JUST TURN LEFT!
Stocke: Oh, so you mean I should head south...even though that was on my right...but it's too late to do that.
Teo: We can send you back and you can make the decision again.  YOU HAVE THE POWER TO DO SO!
Stocke: I'm still lost...what is this place anyway?
Teo: Irrelevant, sending you back now with the White Chronicle!
Lippiti: Remember, TURN LEFT! When you have the chance, TURN LEFT!
Stocke: BUT SOUTH WAS RIGHT-...wait, I'm back out in the field...ok, that was probably just a dream...and I'm still wounded.  Wait, why am I not by a river...this place looks familiar. *Stocke looks to the side, sees Raynie, Marco, and Spy Person alive* ...ok, this is just weird...wait, I remember...TIME FOR HEROICS!
Raynie: ...hey Stocke, fork in the road.  North is the direct way home but...
Stocke: NO TIME TO WASTE! ARROWS COMING! GET DOWN! *Stocke jumps into middle of arrows for no good reason, seeing as Spy Person jumped down and avoided arrows*
Generic Enemy Archer: CRAP! They knew about us!? HOW! OUR PLAN WAS FLAWLESS!
Stocke: There's something I'm suppose to do here...
Voice of Lippiti: TURN LEFT!
Stocke: Right! Gotta go South! So guys...chase them, now!  Can't let them get away!
Generic Enemy Archer: WE REFUSE TO BE CAUGHT! *They suicide*
Stocke: ...and yet, they had plenty of time to run away...ah well.  Wait, there was a flaw in this turning south plan...
Marco: Hey Stocke, the area is barricaded off; this is too well planned for a simple attack...
Stocke: Right, that!  Umm...so can the combined strength of us push this?
Lippiti: TURN LE-...
Teo: *smacks Lippiti* He already did that!
Lippiti: Oh, right...this is where we Deus Ex Machina his way out of the situation, isn't it?
Teo: Yes, yes it is.  Hey Stocke, want super powers?
Stocke: Um, maybe?
Lippiti: TOO BAD NOW YOU HAVE SUPER STRENGTH! PUSH THE BARRICADE!
Stocke: ...ok *he does so*  Wait, if you guys can do that, why didn't you just change the past yourself?
Teo: We can't deal with problems directly, ONLY HELP OUT!
Stocke: Uh-huh...
Raynie: Stocke, who are you speaking too?
Stocke: Would you believe me if I told you some time elves?
Teo: DO NOT TELL HER OF THE WHITE CHRONICLE!
Stocke: What? It's not like she will believe me...
Raynie: Actually, that makes perfect sense.
Stocke: Oh, well, because that's totally NOT what is happening.  Nope!  Just an adrenaline rush! I totally didn't go through these events just 10 minutes ago with catastrophic results!
Raynie: Well, you're not being suspicious, let's get going!

*They get back to town without a hitch*
Stocke: Mission success, whoo!  And-...why am I back in an Escher Painting?
Teo: You succeeded, good job!
Lippiti: Yes, and just so you know, you can only go back in time to fixed points, because time is in flux!
Stocke: Why are my wounds still here? I changed the past!
Teo: You changed the world's past, but your personal past remains!
Stocke: So...if I die, it's game over?  But if someone else dies, I can be all "ABORT MISSION! RETRY!" until I get it right?
Lippiti: Pretty much!  You are the keeper of the White Chronicle after all, you have this power, use it wisely!
Stocke: So if I'm the guy controlling time...do I get a nice blue box that is bigger on the inside of which to move around in?
Teo: No, NOW GET BACK TO REALITY!
Stocke: Back to reali-...oh, hi everyone!  Was I asleep?
Raynie: Yes, you passed out due to wounds we have no clue how you got.
Marco: Yeah, and my healing powers couldn't save you, but MEDICAL SCIENCE COULD!
Stocke: But...Marco...we established you can't actually heal worth crap anyway...
Marco: I leveled up, so I learned how to use healing!
Stocke: I uhh...sure, why not.
Heiss: Ah, good, you two go, I need to speak to Stocke alone *they leave* So Stocke...was the WHITE CHRONICLE USEFUL FOR YOU!?
Stocke: (crap, he knows of the White Chronicle, he must want to use it for bad! They told me to never talk about it.) Well...you know...it was totally a good luck charm.  Yep!  Almost tripped over a rock, but managed to get on my feet! Totally good luck! I'd have tripped without it!
Heiss: And...?
Stocke: It's just a book...that gives good luck...THAT'S IT!
Heiss: I see...well, ok, I'll take your word for it!

*meanwhile, at the enemy castle*

Protea: I'm the queen of what is likely thje evil empire.  Excuse me as I flaunt my evilness.
Eurica: Um, is that really wise doing that?  I don't see any logic in your actions.
Protea: SHUT UP AND LEAVE!  This is all cryptic stuff to happen later in the game.
Eurica:  Really? I thought it was just a chance to force out an intro for the 3 of us.
Protea: Three? There's only two here.
Selvan: Yo.  I'm here too.  Dunno what the hell I am yet.

(If It's not obvious, I don't remember what the hell they talked about there, just Eurica yelling at Protea, then Selvan commenting on the scenario after she leaves, I apologize for the poorly written scene.)

*Stocke rests, and leaves room*
Stocke: Ah, time for a normal day.
Girl with Leaf Crown: HI STOCKE! YOU'RE BACK ALIVE!
Stocke: Hi Sonja...what's with the shouting?
Sonja: BECAUSE I LIKE SPEAKING THIS WAY!
Stocke: Can you...not?
Sonja: Ok, fine.  Are you better?
Stocke: Yep! Nothing can go wrong now!
Alistarian Soldier: STOCKE! DIE!!!
Stocke: Wait what? A Traitor!?
AS: Ahaahah! ACTIVATE SUPER POWER NOW! WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO NOW!?
Stocke: Umm...this looks ominous...
*knife nearly hits guy*
Rosch: Stop this at once, or you'll have to fight me.
AS: I MUST KILL STOCKE! *dies and turns to sand*
Stocke: ...awkward....
Sonja: That looks like the Sand Disease of people turning to sand when they die!
Rosch: Isn't that just a myth?
Sonja: Well, I think what happens is he ran out of Mana before dying, so his body just turned to sand.  Normally, people die, and the mana leaves them, here it was the other way around.
Stocke: Well, that's just plain weird...
Rosch: by the way, Stocke, I'm going to be promoted...wanna join my ranks?
Stocke: But I'm working under Heiss, he won't be happy.
Rosch: I can pull some strings...but only if you want to.
Stocke: I don't know...
Rosch: Think about it and tell me.  I won't force you to do anything you don't want.
Stocke: If only there was a sign to indicate what I should do *vision of Stocke looking at Rosch's dead body* OH COME ON! THAT'S NOT FAIR!
Lippiti: PSST! KEEPER OF THE WHITE CHRONICLE! THIS IS ONE OF THOSE POINTS WHERE TIME CONVERGES!  CHOOSE THE RIGHT PATH OR THE WORLD WILL BE DESTROYED!
Stocke: ...if you're trying to be secretive, WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING THIS AT FULL VOLUME!? Also, aren't I the only one who can hear you anyway, so what's the point of being secretive.
Lippiti: SHUT UP AND CHOOSE A DOOR AND DECIDE! THIS IS TOTALLY IMPORTANT!  Just remember, TURN LEFT!!!
Stocke: But it's a straight line...
Lippiti: TURN. LEFT.

Narrator: WHICH PATH WILL STOCKE CHOOSE!? Will he go with the old fart Heiss? Or will he choose his best friend?  Or will he do both for the sake of seeing everything get turned to shit and thus press the giant reset button because he's a jerk like that?  FIND OUT NExT TIME IN RADIANT HISTORIA ABRIDGED!

[Grefter]

The only way to get more GP before the Highwind (When you can buy it, do Chocobo racing or at least do different games) is grinding the bike minigame. This is not good design at all. It gets much better later on at least.

You aren't meant to do it this early very very clearly based on this restriction.  Design working as intended.  I consider it good design there personally.  BP carrying over would be better net design, but it generally functions.

I am with Snowfire in that I consider it a late Disc 2 or Disc 3 quest personally given that is the timeframe for everyone else' ultimate weapons and level 4 limits.  The fact that it is available that early IS a nice nod to the player and better implementation than similar things in other RPGs.  The prizes don't change and start off out of reach.  Then later in the game when they want you to have it they shift the goal posts closer.  That is better than randomly changing the item list in the Casino half way through the game just because.

[Sierra]

Speaking of FF games that haven't aged well. I was in the mood for a mindless dungeon crawl. Every couple years or so this happens and I start to think it might be fun to run a newspaper to replay FF1. Every time I am disabused of this notion as soon as I start playing the game but I keep doing it anyway. Tradition I guess. So I Hatbotted a team, and he was reasonably generous:

Fighter CROM (he laughs at your four fiends, he laughs from his mountain)
Thief CUJEL* (who mostly serves to remind me how awful thieves are, but it is of course wholly appropriate for him to smugly watch everyone else do the work)
White Mage LINA (look it was the only girl class)
Black Mage EDWIN (was hoping for a red mage)

Astos is a bag of dicks. I reset like a dozen times trying to get a fight where he didn't use either of the two (at most) actions he lived to take IDing someone. Stop iiiit, you're ruining my leveling parity! Eventually I had to just settle for having the most useless party member get behind (hint it's the thief).

Second half of the game is still Itemcast.gif. Remind me why I have mages.

Why does FF1 even have an INT stat.

(*Yes I realize I misspelled his name.)

~

So there's a pile of PS2 games I've been wanting to replay, but I can't bring myself to do so because they just look awful on the HDTV. I think I asked this in chat once but I can't recall if there was an answer: any good way to make PS2 games not look so grainy, granular, and generally shittastic on a modern TV? I don't care if FF1 looks like shit because it is FF1 and that is only accurate, but I would prefer SO3/Suikodens/et al to retain their familiar prettiness.

[superaielman]

That is one shitass party. No red mage and a thief? at least you have access to Temper, that still rules the world.

[Grefter]

Sit further away.  Get drunk.  Wear stunner shades.  Harden the fuck up and deal with lower res textures?  Port it to PC and download a texture pack.

I dunno, I personally go with harden up.  The game always looked that bad.

[Sierra]

That is one shitass party. No red mage and a thief? at least you have access to Temper, that still rules the world.

As long as there's at least one fighter in the party, the rest of the team could all be Ramus and you'd still make it through.

[hinode]

Beat A Link Between Worlds over Thanksgiving weekend, then started up the Oracle of Seasons that I got as a preorder bonus. I have a still-working cartridge of Oracle of Ages, which I used to start up a linked game. Pretty close to finishing Seasons up now, just have the linked game final boss sequence left.

The aforementioned OoA was the latest Zelda game I played previously around its launch date, so my memory of the series was really bad by the time I started up ALBW. I've also never played any of the 3D Zelda games or the touchscreen-only ones, nor do I intend to do so in the near future. I'm glad I waited until after playing OoS before I made any comments, as it gave me an actual frame of reference to compare it to.

The biggest practical impact of item renting for me is that opens up the overworld really early on; with the Power Glove/Zora's Flippers/Pegasus Boots all available immediately after the first dungeon, in additional to all the action items being rentable for a low cost, you can reach almost everything in Hyrule near the beginning of the game, instead of the game handing you a slow drip of accessible locales as you complete the various dungeons in OoS. I enjoyed exploring the world maps in ALBW more than dungeon crawling, whereas with OoS the constant cycle of detours that led to nowhere without a later dungeon item got tedious to the point where I just broke down and followed a guide on everything in the overworld. In fairness I believe this is less of a problem with the earlier Zelda games, especially the original, but I definately recall it being an issue with Link's Awakening and OoA as well.

The other big difference in game design from what I recall of 2D Zelda tradition is that dungeons have fewer but mostly larger rooms. Pretty much every single room besides the entrance contains a puzzle, a boss/mini-boss, or a wave of mooks who unlock a chest when defeated, with no filler rooms that exist just to take up time or make a shape out of the map (which, in fairness, I don't believe ALTTP did either). I don't think this is a big deal either way if you've memorized everything/use a guide, but I did find the shorter dungeons to be convenient when going in blind, as it takes a lot less time to go around in circles figuring out where to go next. By contrast, in OoS I got through the first ~6 dungeons with minimal guide usage despite being not that good at Zelda puzzle solving, but by the end of OoS I found the levels got so large that any unnecessary backtracking just made things tedious. The existince of rooms that would throw you back to the entrance if you don't get through them quickly enough was the straw that broke the camel's back for me, in terms of just going and faqing absolutely everything in a dungeon (which took longer than any ALBW dungeon for me, even with guide help).

I feel like I should mentioned the non-linear dungeons that got hyped so much prerelease. It's certainly nice on paper, but for someone like me who doesn't normally replay Zelda games it matters a lot less than the hardcore Zelda fans who replay them over and over and use glitches for all sorts of crazy sequence breaking hijinks.

Combat mechanics are by and large the same as ALLTP except with eight-way targetting for ranged attacks and a unified stamina bar instead of separate bow/arrow/magic meters, which is fine by me. Based on my rusty memory of ALLTP I'd say that ALBW's boss difficulty is more even. There's definately nothing as time-consuming as ALTTP's Moldorm fight, and I think the hardest ALLTP bosses where somewhat harder than the toughest ALBW fights, but on the flipside nothing in ALBW is as laughable easy as Kholdstaire or Vitreous either. OoS is definately harder than either of them, even before considering that you're limited to a single potion instead of carrying around 4/5 bottles worth of fairies and/or potions.

I didn't mind the absence of trading chains at all, and all the mini-games are mercifully completely optional. Putting treasure dungeons in most of the hidden locations was a great touch, as was putting generally harder puzzles in those instead of mandatory dungeons. They reward players who can find and beat them with significant cash to help permanently buy items, but they don't lock everyone else out of major gameplay options. I don't think there's anything missable at all in ALBW either, except for maybe a minor rupee chest here or there.

In summary, ALBW isn't a game that's going to change the mind of someone who doesn't like 2D Zelda games at all, but for more casual/relapsed fans like me it's definately a nice entry in the series that polishes up various aspects of the series that have been annoying faq-bait before. I have some more comments on Oracle of Seasons as well, but this post is already getting kinda long so I'll save them for later.