tegan

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Posts posted by tegan

  1. Posted

    I quickly gleaned the strategy here, though in retrospect I should have lept off the balcony and taken a little fall damage once Kuro was on his back instead of running down the stairs each time. A few times I couldn't find the stair entrance in time and missed my chance to get to Kuro before he got back up.

     

    I realized something this time that I never realized before.

    You can roll through the gaps under the bars in the windows and land directly in the pit.

    Saved me a lot of hassle.

  2. Posted

    I don't know if anyone's mentioned this yet, but my only real criticism of the content (as opposed to the presentation) was that she said that Zelda's never had a starring role. She's had two. They're not canon and they kind of suck, but they happened. The Star Fox stuff shows that she did her homework, so not giving those a mention kind of stuck out.

  5. Posted

    You'd think that after the massive controversy that erupted when Maxis released their last game, Spore, going remotely near intrusive DRM and/or mandatory online connectivity would be either avoided completely or planned and executed to absolute perfection.

     

    In a word: nope.

     

    I think you're underselling it a bit. Spore's DRM was the specific thing that made it the most pirated game of 2008. It accomplished the exact opposite of what it set out to do.

  6. Posted

    Count me on the "was disappointed at the official Zelda timeline" bandwagon. I always entertained the notion that it was supposed to be one basic story told by different cultures.

     

     

    The talk about exchange rates reminded me of a conversation I had with an Argentinian friend about the same thing. Apparently as far as cost of living, AR$1 roughly equals US$1, as in if you buy a hot dog off from a street vendor you'll spend about the same amount of pesos as dollars. However, in terms of exchange, back when we spoke, it was about three pesos to the dollar. Argentina has jack shit for national industry, so most manufactured goods have to be imported at ridiculous cost. My friend's boss wanted a custom self-inking rubber stamp, and ended up importing one from Germany, which after exchange and shipping cost AR$80. That shit's crazy.

     

    The Canadian dollar has hovered around the same value as the US dollar for ages (and was significantly higher for some time), but we still pay a massive markup on certain items for some reason. Lots of people will actually cross the border just to go shopping.

     

     

     

    The story about trading in the PS for the N64 made me wince a little. Don't get me wrong, some of my all-time favourite games are on the N64, but owning a 64 meant long waits between anything worthwhile. Maybe it's different if you're in the UK and have some kind of civic duty to enjoy Rareware.

     

    Also, I'm pretty sure that the launch era game that everyone was searching for was Pilotwings. It was the only game available at launch apart from Super Mario 64 and a Japan-exclusive Shogi game.

  7. Posted

    Eighth Colossus (Kuromori) thoughts:

    Fuck this guy. This is the point where the colossi start becoming actively annoying for me. This time took a good fifteen to twenty minutes and I came close to dying a few times thanks to his stupid nerve gas. I also forgot the technique for fighting kuromori for a bit. First death in the game when I accidentally jumped off of a cliff thinking it was the way to the Colosseum. At least I got to ride the fish.

    Speaking of the Colosseum, it's one of the most distinctively purposeful structures in the game. I always wondered if Kuromori was supposed to be harnessed for entertainment or something. Is it trapped there? Can it get out?

    I've never got the name Kuromori. It's Japanese for "Black Forest." It's the only Japanese name for a colossus and it doesn't describe it at all.

    Next time: worst colossus!

  8. Posted

    Was it the 2010 PAX panel where someone made a joke about Chris being at the Retronauts panel? Because I'm listening to the 2010 Retronauts PAX panel and Jeremy makes a joke about how the crowd must have showed up because the Idle Thumbs panel was full. If the panels were at the same time, the two would have made jokes about each others shows at approximately the same moment.

  9. Posted

    One digital audio rabbit hole that's always interested me is the tech behind Vocaloid, but I always hesitate to bring it up because the actual execution of Vocaloid is just the worst thing.

     

    Also, the company that owns the rights to the Gackt Vocaloid is called INTERNET and it makes me laugh every time.

  10. Posted

    Also, was it this week or last week where the thumbs mentioned the Laserdisc games full of anime clips? Becuase my favourite example of that is Cliff Hanger, a Laserdisc game that just takes clips from Castle of Cagliostro and retroactively adds terrible dubbing and a bunch of QTEs. It's like Dragon's Lair if Dragon's Lair used footage of a pre-existing movie, and that movie was a quiet action classic.

     

  11. Posted

    I have it downloaded, but still haven't gotten around to playing it. I feel guilty, because Nich Maragos hid my name (along with a bunch of other forum buddies) in most of the trailers. I'm the Fortress!

     

  12. Posted

    The World Ends With You had a Streetpass-esque feature that was required to 100% the game. Fortunately it's a little forgiving and gives you a few ways to cheese the system, but it was really annoying as hell. I really appreciate how much simpler that is with Streetpass.

     

    I can't wait to see a big, ubiquitous game use it. Specifically, I want to see what Pokémon inevitably does with Streetpass.

  13. Posted

    I kind of take (historical) beef with the assertion that Tomb Raider's violence isn't gendered. This has probably been better explored in the Tomb Raider thread; but I think there's a massive world of difference between Nathan Drake taking a bullet to the gut and Lara Croft, a character who is synonymous to the sex symbol of video games, moaning and gasping while pulling a piece of rebar out of her side. You can make a game sexy or violent and it will probably be crass but not without precedent, but taking a series that is already so heavily associated with sexiness and mixing in such gratuitous violence against its lead source of titillation is something that you just can't do without making something intensely creepy in the worst possible way.

     

     

     

    Also, as long as I'm making an ass out of myself: you guys have been using the word "bespoke" like five times an episode lately as an all-purpose descriptor. Jake used it twice within a few seconds in this episode to describe two completely different things. It is distracting to me and now it will be distracting to everyone else.

  14. Posted

    I've found that every EB Games or similar store has either an employee or a demo unit somewhere that has every Puzzle Swap piece so far. It's the reason why I go to the mall every weekend. It's probably good for their business, too.

     

    Also, I like the 3D feature. I feel like Nintendo are the only ones who really thought to use it as a subtle addition rather than a major feature, though they certainly tried to advertise it as a major feature at first. If there's a feature of the 3DS that they've completely swept under the rug, it's the Augmented Reality stuff. It's probably for the best since the cameras on the system make it really janky and finnicky, but I have a big thing for AR so I'm kind of disappointed that I don't get to use it more often.

  16. Posted

    He means their appearance, not their names. There was a big rumour that the player character avatars would be customizable for some reason. Mr. XY also posted a bunch of other stuff just recently, but I'm not going to bother reposting it all unless we get confirmation for some of it first. The mechanics stuff he talked about the first time was just interesting to bring up.

     

     

    How about Vullaby? I think you can catch one on Victory Road and it'd be pretty close to evolving into Mandibuzz, whose Dark/Flying would address Fighting, Psychic, and Ghost.

    I haven't seen any wild Vullaby yet. I think they've moved, since Victory Road is completely different this time through. I just decided to swap out my Steelix for a Swoobat instead and I'm powerlevelling it now. I'm thinking about giving it U-turn for getting out of tight spots against Dark-types, but that would mean spending a lot of time at the Pokémon World Tournament earning BP.

     

    I'm also struck by how I'm really not very overleveled in this game so far. Typically, I find myself at least a good five or six levels on average stronger than enemy teams, but I'm almost always evenly matched on levels and gym leaders/special enemies usually take out at least half of my team. I don't know if this is just because I'm less patient about grinding or there are fewer trainers in the wild to level against, but it's definitely a different experience which is keeping me roped in and on the edge in combat.

    Black and White rebalanced how experience works in order to prevent grinding. Now you get more EXP for taking on an enemy with a level higher than yours, but it decreases as your level approaches theirs. If you're significantly higher, you get only a small fraction of what you otherwise would. The downside is that you're pretty much never going to see a monster gain eight levels in one go by deliberately picking a tougher fight and immediately switching to a stronger monster, since the stronger monster's presence will reduce your overall EXP yield.

    They did compensate with Audino, though. Audino can appear on any rustling grass tile in the game and it has the third-highest EXP yield after Chansey and Blissey, so it's almost a guaranteed level-up. It's the Metal Slime of the Pokémon world.

  17. Posted

    I kind of really don't like the bonding thing, honestly. Managing Pokémon Happiness is already kind of butt and this new system is just giving me Colosseum flashbacks.

     

     

    So I've passed the 100-hour mark in Black 2 and I'm raising my team up to 60 before I take on the Elite Four. I'm surprised at how much I've enjoyed this game! Even the dumb Dream World minigames at least have a great payoff. I guess all that Black and White needed to make me love them were the rose-tinted glasses of Gen I and II monsters. I just wish I had more adequate type coverage for my team, though. I'm not really prepared for a series of fights based on Fighting, Psychic, Dark and Ghost monsters. I should probably swap out my Leavanny for something more durable.

    Also, I'm going to the logical extreme of the self-imposed "catch everything with a Poké Ball" challenge I've been doing for the last few games. I caught the Musketeer trio in Premier Balls. I'm thinking I'll try to catch the version mascots in Luxury Balls.

     

    Also, JonCole, I can confirm now that Strength and Surf are both required to finish the main campaign. Strength isn't required at all until the eleventh hour, where it's needed almost constantly. That's kind of odd.

  18. Posted

    The weird thing is that Nintendo has all of the pieces in play for a universal account, but just never actually did it for some reason. Everything you buy gets linked back to your Club Nintendo account, but there's nothing you can really do with it except get "free" stuff.


    Also, I picked up a 3DS XL on the weekend! It is significantly nicer than the vanilla 3DS! I'm diggin' it!

  20. Posted

    Seventh Colossus (Hydrus) thoughts:

    Hydrus is one of the finnicky colossi where I'm never entirely certain if I'm doing it right. I'm still not certain what triggers him to attack you. I think you just have to be moving on the surface of the water. And it's not really clear how close you have to be to one of his protrusions to take damage from it. I took a lot more damage on this one than I have previously, partially because I ran out of stamina while latched onto him at the very bottom of the lake. I still pulled through fine in the end, though. Still haven't died yet in this run!

    Worth noting: This would be the first colossus that seems to be capable of generating electricity, which is about to become a recurring thing. I wonder if there's any sort of deliberate commentary there about the people of the forbidden land and exactly what kind of power they had harnessed. I remember someone once pointed out to me that the forbidden magic referred to in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess bears a lot more resemblance to technology than magic, and I feel like maybe I'm having a similar revelation here.

    Next time: The halfway point!

  22. Posted

    I made bonus! Plus. I'm in a bet right now to see who can go the lognest without taking any voluntary time off of work. As a result, this latest paycheque has been absolutely massive. It had to be deposited in two parts.

  24. Posted

    So someone on 4chan with the tripcode Mr. XY is claiming to be involved in X and Y. This is pure rumour at this point, but it seems awfully detailed for something that was made up. I guess we'll know when we have more definite information in March. This forum apparently won't let me quote anything this long, so here it is in plain text:

     

     

     
    I'll spare you any long detailed explanation as to who I am, or what position I hold, only to say that this info will shock, anger, and perhaps relieve long-time fans of the series. You may view this as a rumor, or view this as the truth, but I promise you that in the following months you will all remember this post, fondly or not, when it becomes reality.
     
    I can confirm Nintendo of America will be releasing a New Trailer showcasing a Baby Pinsir and a Baby Heracross around the middle of March, as well as featuring information on the new "Bond System" that Sylveon figures into. Look forward to that as proof of my legitimacy. 
    Without further ado, here is a compiled list of some key features Game Freak is launching in Pokemon X and Y:
     
    * Main Characters are named Jean and Jane in the localization, non-customizable. The Trainer now appears on the bottom screen during battle, with the visual interface resembling a "speech bubble" with the commands inside. 
     
    * You now have a Trainer Level, effects how in-game characters react to you, and grants various Bonuses as it goes up such as increasing capture rate, and rarity of Pokemon you encounter. New In-Battle Key Item "Whistle" can be used once-per-battle, with different effects depending on the situation including waking up a Pokemon from sleep or confusion (without wasting a turn), or causing them to dodge an attack when their health is critical. 
     
    * Every Pokemon has a Bond Level with you in addition to regular Levels. Most Level Up Evolutions now evolve based on their Bond with you, which goes up as you fight with them. Higher Bonds also increase the EXP. gain, as well as grant small stat bonuses. These bonuses can be turned off in player vs. player matches, as can the Whistle, for the benefit of competitive play.
     
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    * Sunglasses are called "Bond-EYE", allows you to view the Nature of a Wild Pokemon, and your "compatibility", which basically means the Capture rate of that species. Bond-EYE also allows you, while in-towns, to see visual avatars of other players akin to the Miiverse Function in Nintendo Land, and send them messages and battle/trade requests. Pokemon X and Y will be the first Miiverse-enabled 3DS game. 
     
    * Local Wireless Co-Op is included, with one player being the leader, with the other player aiding in battle. All Wild and Trainer Battles transform into Double Format, as the players use three Pokemon each. In-game trainers are included to Co-Op with for those without any local players, residing within a new "Juice Bar" located in each town. 
     
    * PokeDex is a tablet with a 3D display, resembling the Wii U controller. Can fully view the Pokemon model, read their Dex (now they're full paragraph descriptions), listen to their cry, view their location, and compare size and weight with any other Pokemon in the Dex. Can also activate a mode which shows comments about that species made by players around the world via the 3DS Miiverse. 
     
    * There is a Bank where you can store excess money, receiving special gifts upon depositing a certain amount, and receive interest. Each Pokemon Center has an ATM allowing you to access your funds.
     
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    * Using a special wristwatch device, mirrors, and certain reflective surfaces, serve as portals allowing the player to travel 30 years into the past. The Past World has different characters, some younger versions of present characters, differences in layout, with buildings having yet to be built, and different wild Pokemon. Past World is sepia-toned, and closed-off, as different portals in the present take you to different Past World locations. Pokemon from the Past and Present can be used in any era, and all stored in the PC regardless of when you catch them. 
     
    * Evil Team is named "Team Gear", with a clock-based motif, and their outfits are these funky purple bodysuits with black "clock hands" on them. Their Modus Operandi involves messing with stuff in the past that alters the present, and you must correct their actions. The player character also meets their father as a beginning trainer in the past, who is trying to stop Team Gear. Past Actions effect the present...in one part, you must catch a Munchlax in the past to clear the road of a Snorlax. 
     
    * Professor is Professor Bristle, a very old-man who you meet in both eras, being ironically as old-looking in the past as he is in the present, and your Rival is named "Ricki", a part-time magazine writer who documents the weird events occurring in the past due to the time-travel mess ups of Team Gear. 
     
    * There are 99 New Pokemon included. Large amount of New Baby Pokemon and New Evolutions. Only 6 Legendaries. Most of the brand-New Pokemon are new type-combinations, and less orthodox, as there is no new Rodent/Bird/Bug or the classic tropes, instead they are filled by old Pokemon.
     
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    >>11438709
    Just visual effect. The first Pokemon sent out in every match by a trainer will do a little stomp pose that spread the field around them. You never see your Trainer on the top-screen, as he's always on the bottom, instead it's like Stadium where Pokeballs appear from off-screen and such. They may change it up and spruce it some by the time it comes out in October, though. 
     
    >>11438782
    They're planning to reveal all the Starter Evolutions pre-release this time around, so I've already learned quite a bit about them. 
    Grass/Flying, Fire/Psychic, and Water. Chespin is based on a helicopter/samara fruit (think a mammalian Garchomp), Fennekin looks a lot like Ninetales, with "lotus-shaped" ear fluff and tail, and Froakie becomes a giant, horned toad with tons of cloudy-fluff covering his body. 
     
    >>11438889
    It's Pure Normal. It evolves through the Bond System. Umbreon and Espeon are receiving new items to evolve them like they did in XD since Happiness has been replaced with Bonding, while other Happiness Evolutions are now Bonding Level Evolutions.
     
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    >>11439314
    No new types. As I mentioned, thought, most of the New Pokemon I've learned of appear to be new dual-typing, so they seem to be trying to fill in all the holes.
     
    Xerneas is Psychic/Rock and Yveltal is Ghost/Flying. 
     
    >>11439381
    "Large amount of New Baby Pokemon and New Evolutions" when those are put together. There's about 10 Baby Pokemon, and around 20 Evolutions. And yes, Sylveon is the only new Eevee.
     
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    >>11439780
    Yes. However, they're not focusing as much on the New Pokemon this time around since they introduced so many last Gen, instead focusing on new gameplay elements. It's up to you, though, as to which you prefer for them to put resources into.
     
    I've seen a good amount of the Pokemon, although how much I know about them varies depending on when they're going to be showcased (some I know simply their design and typing, others I've only heard general descriptions and have yet to see), and, well, I can say this Gen will probably get a lot of mixed reactions.
     
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    >>11439838
    Nope. And no Walking Feature has been implemented yet, and doesn't seem to be planned.. The Status Screen lets you "pet" them, which has their model perform different animations they have, and also the Bond System displays a little message about how the Pokemon feels towards you.
     
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    >>11439881
    There doesn't seem to be any. Just Xerneas and Yveltal. At this point."Non-Cartridge" DLC Pokemon is a possibility thanks to the added power of the 3DS, so it may come later. 
     
    The other 4 Legendaries are a quartet, they're white and black animals, with the black parts resembling card suits. A large cobra with a heart-shaped hood and tail, a tiger with diamond patterns, a t-rex dinosaur with spade-shaped spikes, and a peacock with a club-shaped tail. Not sure about their typings.
     
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    >>11439918
    Basic. Bonding is mainly done through methods akin to Happiness, raising as you play normally, so you don't necessarily need to go out of your way to do it. Petting doesn't actually raise the Bond. 
     
    >>11439906
    Okay. I've seen atleast one evolution per Gen.
    Pinsir. Has four-arms, four horns. It can remove its horns and hold them like swords it appears. Pure-Bug.
    Flaaffy Split-Evolution. Quadrupedal ram with tesla-coil horns. Pure-Electric.
    Hariyama Evolution. Mountain-colored (green bottom, brown top), with white hair and beard resembling clouds. Pure-Fighting.
    Lumineon Evolution. Fins resemble figure-eights, like the infinity symbol, and it's got neon-red lines running on the edges of its body. Pure-Water. 
    Darumaka Split-Evolution. Turns into a snowman-looking ape, with little orange spots running down its chest, and its eyebrows are duller flames. Fire/Ice.
     
    >>11440010
    I believe they're referencing the Saint Beasts of Asian Lore, yet taking liberties. Bird, Dragon, Reptile, and Tiger.
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mr. XY
    >>11439905
    Not sure if it's exactly considered a Pikachu, but one of the Pokemon is Electric/Steel, and resembles a metallic mouse, with a "computer mouse plug" tail. I don't see anything else that comes close to Pikachu, so that's probably it. 
     
    >>11440005
    The last three Pokemon before the Legendaries are Dark/Electric. They seem to be based on "star life cycles", as the first one is little and star-shaped, the second one is huge and spherical, and the final one is more humanoid with vortex shapes on its body. They look powerful, so I'd guess they fulfill the BST layout, but I'm not sure of any base stats. 
     
    >>11440143
    No Heracross evolution from what I can see, Pinsir is the only Pokemon I've seen this time around who gets both an evolution and pre-evolution. And no Camerupt Evolution, as far as I can tell.
     
    >>11440206
    Well, Pinsir is one I consider long-time fans wanting. And there is a Farfetch'd evolution, but it's pretty disappointing. Farfetch'd doesn't evolve, the LEEK itself grows into a cool sword-leek with a little (\___/) face on the end. Honestly I'm still wondering if the LEEK is a new Pokemon and it's a Mantine-Remoraid situation where Farfetch'ds model incorporates it or what. And then there's odd choices, like Sawk and Throh both seem to get one that look like Fist of the North Star rejects.
     
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    >>11441582
    Normal/Flying still, I believe. (re: Farfetch'd evo)
     
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    Last one before bed.
     
    Region is very large, probably the largest thanks to the 3DS extra space, and is indeed based on France, with some of the Scandinavia peninsula located at the top of the map. I'd say the game is decently "open", but there's a solid order of Gyms, but enough side areas that you're not being pushed forward. The most striking thing about the Region from looking at the map is all the rivers flowing through the Region, but don't fret, there's not a lot of required Surfing. Speaking of which, HMs are still in, but none are required to get through the main campaign.
     
    The Past-Era of the Region is broken up...you access different parts of it through the corresponding Present portal, and have smaller, cordoned-off areas to explore.

  25. Posted

    I've been reading Blaster Nation since it started. I can't really put my finger on why I like it, so maybe I'm a bit of an apologist. I think it might have something to do with the characters all being post-college kids who just got out of that part of their life where they were the kind of horrible nerds that define themselves solely by the media they like and are starting to feel a bit guilty about it (see: this strip or this story arc). I can definitely relate to that. But the point is, the new story arc is about Rinnie. And she's my favourite.